Pinnacle welcomes the lowering of the age of eligibility for free bowel screening to 58 as a positive step toward earlier cancer detection, however, reallocating funding from the targeted Māori and Pasifika programme is inherently inequitable.

Pinnacle welcomes the government’s announcements this week of increased funding and workforce initiatives for general practice. Primary care is under immense pressure, with workforce shortages and financial constraints making it harder for practices to provide timely care.

The purpose of this funding is to establish a regular after-hours Waikato immunisation service, for childhood immunisations, in the evening (e.g. 5-7pm) or at weekends.

Pinnacle Midlands Health Network has been acknowledged with the highest rating in a Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand cultural audit for its “alignment with Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles and commitment to improving Māori health outcomes”.

Pinnacle is pleased to share this mobile plan offer developed with Spark Health as part of their ongoing commitment to support and mobilise the Aotearoa New Zealand health sector.

Pinnacle is excited to reopen Kia Puāwai (our Māori and Pasifika Education Fund) for 2025. This fund, with a value of $15,000 (up to $5,000 each for up to three people), has been created to tautoko the continuous development and career progression of our Māori, and now also Pasifika, workforce.

Drive-throughs aren’t just for fast food — they’re now making healthcare quicker and more accessible too.

Te Whatu Ora's decision to halt the age extension of bowel screening for Māori and Pasifika peoples in Waikato from 4 December has left many without access to potentially life-saving tests.

It has been a tough year for health, and primary care in particular, but we are pleased to have identified opportunities to improve the way we fund our practices.

It was October 1984 when Judy Cowie first started work at Fairfield Medical Centre in Hamilton. She and then fiancé Grant Cowie were not long back in in the country after three years’ living and working in Australia and the United Kingdom.