Emergency department

For critical or life-threatening emergencies go to the emergency department or dial 111

If you are not sure how serious the problem is, call Healthline at any time for advice on 0800 611 116

There is no emergency department at Kenepuru Community Hospital. If you have a critical or life-threatening emergency, go to the Wellington Regional Hospital emergency department.

Wellington Regional Hospital (internal link)

When to go to ED (internal link)

After hours and urgent medical centres

If your health emergency is not life threatening, but you cannot wait for an appointment with your usual doctor or healthcare provider, go to an after hours or urgent medical centre. They can help you with things like bad cuts, sprains or breaks, minor head injuries, or if you are feeling really sick. You do not need an appointment but might have to wait.

Kenepuru Accident and Medical Clinic

Kenepuru Accident and Medical Clinic is open 24/7.

Street address:

Kenepuru Community Hospital
16 Hospital Drive
Kenepuru
Porirua 5022


Contact information

For general enquiries, phone 04 385 5999

Postal address:

Kenepuru Community Hospital
PO Box 50215
Porirua 5240


Visiting hours

Kenepuru Community Hospital visiting hours are 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 8pm, 7 days a week.

  • For very sick or special needs patients, longer visiting hours can be arranged with the charge nurse.
  • Ward 4 visitors must phone 04 385 5999 before coming in.
  • Mental health visitors need to arrange a time with the team leader prior to visiting.

How to get to Kenepuru Community Hospital

The entrance to Kenepuru Community Hospital is on Hospital Drive, Porirua.

Kenepuru Community Hospital
16 Hospital Drive
Kenepuru
Porirua 5022

Bus

The following bus routes stop at Kenepuru Community Hospital:

  • 60 — Porirua to Johnsonville
  • 60e — Porirua to Wellington.

For timetables and maps, go to the Metlink website.

Metlink (external link)

Train

Kenepuru Community Hospital is 2 km from Porirua Station.

There is a bus stop at the station where you can catch routes 60 or 60e to the hospital.

There is also car transport available to take you between the station and the hospital, available on request. This is a free service.

For information about car transport and to make a booking:

Hospital shuttles

Patients and their caregivers or visitors can use our free shuttle van service to travel between Kenepuru Community Hospital and Wellington Regional Hospital.

Booking

You need to book a seat on this service — preferably at least one hour before you intend to travel. This can be done by contacting the Wellington transport office:

Office hours are 7:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Timetable

The service runs every hour on weekdays, with the first shuttles departing simultaneously from both sites at 7am. Departures continue each hour on the hour, with the final departure at 6pm.

The shuttle does not operate on weekends or public holidays and reduced schedules operate over the Christmas-New Year peak holiday period.

Travel time is usually around 30 minutes, but can be up to 45 minutes as collections and deliveries are often made during the run.

We suggest that patients using the shuttle to travel to appointments notify clinic staff so that appointments can be scheduled for 15 minutes before the hour, or on the hour.

Departure points

  • Wellington Regional Hospital: outside the main entrance door.
  • Kenepuru Community Hospital: outside the main public entrance to the Accident and Medical Clinic.

Accessibility

Shuttle vans are not wheelchair accessible. If an accessible vehicle is required, let us know when you make your booking and we will try to arrange for this. Book at least 24 hours in advance.

For more information:

Leaving a voicemail message does not guarantee your booking request. Call back to speak to an operator.

A Safe Kapiti (ASK) runs a health shuttle from Monday to Thursday. Drivers have had full official training and first aid training.

The service cannot accommodate a wheelchair so it is for people who:

  • are mobile and independent, or
  • only need some assistance from the driver to get in and out of the van.

Passengers are welcome to bring a support person with them.

The shuttle picks up people and drops them back home between Waikanae and Paekākāriki. People in Ōtaki can be picked up at the bus stop at Ngaio Road in Waikanae.

Booking

To book a seat on the Kapiti health shuttle freephone 0800 502 066 extension 0. You can leave a voicemail message.

Bookings must be made 24 hours in advance — but if you require the shuttle on Monday it will need to be booked on the Thursday beforehand.

Appointment times

Patients are asked to make their appointments between 9:30am and 11:30am at Kenepuru Community Hospital.

Donations

The shuttle runs on donations. A suggested donation is $20 return trip. A receipt will be provided if required.

National Travel Assistance

The National Travel Assistance Scheme helps people who need to travel long distances or travel frequently for health appointments.

National Travel Assistance (internal link)


Parking information

There is a car park at the hospital.

Parking is free.


Kenepuru Community Hospital map


Departments and services

We are currently developing this page and will be adding service information.

In the meantime, visit:

A to Z of our services —Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley (external link)


Facilities

There is an ATM on site.

Poppies Café is located in the main entrance foyer and is open 7:30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Vibe Café is located on the ground floor of Ward Block and is open 8am to 3pm, Monday to Friday. The seating area is available 24/7.

The chapel is open 8:30am to 4pm, weekdays.

Our chaplaincy staff can be contacted by pager through the hospital operator, or ask your nurse to contact us.

Chaplaincy staff:

  • Kath MacLean — pager 2725
  • Noel Tiano — pager 7543
  • Amy Finiki — pager 2808.

We are available for:

  • pastoral visits, counselling, prayer, and communion on request any time from the chaplains
  • blessings, funerals and weddings
  • worship services every Sunday at 9:30am, including communion — everybody is welcome
  • ward communions Thursday mornings at your bedside
  • chaplaincy assistant visits during the week.

There is a New Zealand Post box on site. The post box is collected each day at 2:30pm.

There is a quiet room on the first floor between wards 4 and 5. It is available to staff, patients or visitors who need a place for reflection, prayer or simply time out.

A similar room is available near the outpatients area on the ground floor.

Rooms are available on levels 1 and 2 for all whānau visiting people on the wards. They provide a space for larger gatherings.

Kenepuru Community Hospital is part of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and these rooms also offer a quiet space for nursing mothers.

For patients staying overnight, free Wi-Fi is available. Connect to the 'DHBPatientWiFi' network and follow the instructions.


Patient and visitor information

Disability alerts and health passports give your healthcare providers information about you for your appointment.

Disability alerts

A disability alert adds information about your needs to your electronic patient file. It helps us make sure you can:

  • access your appointment
  • understand what is happening
  • feel safe.

For more information or help with disability alerts:

My Health Passport

To save you repeating information to your doctor or health and disability services, use My Health Passport. It explains how you want them to communicate with you and help you.

My Health Passport — Health and Disability Commissioner (external link)

Communication graphic cards

NZSL video about communication graphic cards — Vimeo (external link)

These cards are for Deaf and hard of hearing people to use when accessing health services. They are to:

  • help you communicate with other people
  • make other people aware of different ways to communicate with you.

The cards are the same size as a bank card so that they fit in your wallet. You could also save the image to your phone and show it when you visit.

There are 3 cards that say 'Hello, I'm Deaf' and 3 cards that say 'Hello, I'm hard of hearing' and they have different messages:

  • one outlining communication methods
  • one asking people to use NZ Video Relay Services
  • one asking people to us physical distancing so that face masks can be removed.

Hello, I'm Hard of Hearing cardPDF1.7 MB

Hello, I'm Deaf cardPDF1.6 MB

Both cards — postcard sizePDF360 KB

Both card – business card sizePDF176 KB

Co-production, user experience testing and research

Co-production involves finding patients who can attend a meeting or series of meetings with the Disability team and other staff to develop a new service or way of working. Sometimes we also ask patients to give us feedback through user experience testing. If you would like to be included in co-production or user experience testing, we would love to hear from you.

If you are a researcher with disability expertise, let us know. We like to work with researchers who are familiar with the rights-based approach to disability. We frequently recommend potential researchers to other departments across the region.

To contact us:

We can book an interpreter to support:

  • people who do not speak English or do not speak it with confidence
  • people who communicate by sign language
  • when translation of written information (to or from English) is required
  • some interpreter services are available by telephone.

Let the service or ward know if you want to use an interpreter.

Sign language interpreter

You should use a qualified NZSL interpreter in any situations where you make important decisions. These situations include:

  • health consultations
  • assessments
  • treatments
  • discussions about which medicines you should have.

The department you are seeing will book the interpreter.

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora pays for interpreters for hospital appointments.

iSign pays for interpreters for:

  • GP (family doctor) appointments
  • ultrasound appointments

You can ask for an NZSL interpreter to be at your appointment. We do not recommend using a family member as an interpreter.

You can ask for a particular interpreter to be at your appointment. If the interpreter you want is not available, you can go ahead with the appointment with another interpreter. Otherwise, you can reschedule it for when the interpreter is available.

If you would like to book an interpreter yourself, contact iSign.

iSign (external link)

Your options if you cannot get an interpreter

Your healthcare provider will work with you to find the best way to communicate with you.

Some options include:

We lend hospital equipment to patients to support their recovery, such as:

  • crutches
  • wheelchairs
  • bathroom chairs.

When we lend any equipment we will let you know when it needs to be returned. This date is agreed with your healthcare provider and is based on the time they estimate you will need it to support your recovery from illness, an accident or surgery.

There is no charge for equipment, or fee if they are returned late.

We appreciate people returning equipment when they no longer need them. This means they are on hand to lend to other patients who need them, and we do not have to spend money buying replacement items, which could spent on providing other health services to our communities.

You do not need to return any personal hospital equipment, such as:

  • moon boots
  • pressure bandages or strapping
  • linen.

You can dispose of these in your rubbish.

If you need your equipment for longer, or cannot return your equipment:

Where to return equipment

Return equipment to the security orderlies office in the main reception area.

The office is open 7am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

To send a message to a patient, phone 04 385 5999

We will need the patient's name and the ward they are in.

Anything you send to a patient should be clearly marked with the patient's name and ward.

Send letters and parcels to:

Kenepuru Community Hospital
PO Box 50215
Porirua 5240

Send flowers to:

Kenepuru Community Hospital
16 Hospital Drive
Porirua 5022

The hospital and grounds are all smoke and vape free areas. If you are a patient we can help with nicotine replacement therapy.

Kenepuru Community Hospital is a place where staff, patients, whānau and friends work together to care for sick and injured people. We want a safe and calm environment for everyone. We have zero tolerance to violence, aggression or harassment of any kind towards staff, patients or visitors.

This includes:

  • intimidation or threats
  • swearing
  • shouting
  • racial or sexual comments
  • physical aggression towards people or property.

Please treat everyone with dignity and respect. We all share the same goal — to care for patients. Please treat all our patients, staff and visitors with respect and dignity.

Please respect our rules. These are required to ensure the best outcome for our patients.

Please talk to us if you are feeling frustrated or stressed. Patients get better faster when we use calm voices and work together as a team. Use our whānau spaces or take a break outside if you are overwhelmed.

We want our place to be a safe place for all. We are all responsible for making our place a safe place for everyone.

Ma tini, ma mano, ka rapa te whai — by joining together we will succeed.

If you need a wheelchair or help from an orderly, call us before your visit to arrange this on 04 385 5999 extension 86100.

Feedback

How was the care you or your whānau received at our healthcare providers in Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti? We welcome feedback, compliments or complaints to help us get things right.

Wellington, Hutt and Kapiti feedback form (internal link)

If you have a problem you want sorted straight away, talk with the staff caring for you or ask to speak with a manager in that area.

Information in NZSL about providing feedback — Vimeo (external link)