Professor funds mobile ENT clinic for rural Northland

Inspired by 28 Māori battalion doctor Sir Patrick Eisdell Moore, Professor Richard Douglas, has funded a mobile clinic to deliver ear, nose and throat services to remote parts of Te Tai Tokerau, Northland.

Sir Patrick saw the need for healthcare for his soldiers' children when they returned from WWII and converted a caravan into a mobile clinic for the East Coast.

Douglas, Head of Surgery in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and an otorhinolaryngology (ORL) surgeon saw a comparable need in present-day Northland for ear, nose and throat-related clinical services.

“I funded the mobile clinic because I thought it would address the need to lessen the impact of geography on access to clinical services,” Douglas says.

“The converted van will be deployed by staff of Health NZ in Te Tai Tokerau – ORL surgeons, specialist nurses and audiologists – to run clinics the more distant communities in Northland.”

The Mercedes van is set up with the latest technology, so clinicians on board can access patient notes and perform assessments and most procedures on-site.

“I hope it will be able to service these communities sufficiently frequently that the need for patients to drive to Whangārei Hospital will be greatly reduced.

“A better provision of ORL diagnostic services to these communities should lead to earlier diagnoses and better outcomes.”

He designed the mobile van with Whangārei ORL surgeon Dr David Waterhouse.

They are pleased patients living in isolated parts of Northland can feel assured the van will visit their area on an eight-week cycle.

The mobile clinic is named Tarāpunga, after the native red-billed gull. Douglas has set up the Tarāpunga Trust to cover its ongoing operating costs.

“If we can get the model working well in Te Tai Tokerau, I would like to see similar mobile clinics deployed in other parts of New Zealand with geographically remote communities,” says Douglas.