Our Services - Third Age Health

We provide trusted general practice healthcare services for Aged Residential Care facilities.

We also provide quality healthcare for people of all ages in the community via our group of boutique General Practices.

Dedicated healthcare services for Aged Care Facilities

Third Age Health is the only dedicated national provider of general practice medical services for older people living in aged residential care. As this is our sole focus, we have developed a service to meet and respond to the unique health challenges of older people and the places they call home.

Happy adult woman visiting her elderly mother at home

We have a professional and dedicated national team of both General Practitioners and Nurse Practitioners who provide medical care to over 120 aged care facilities throughout New Zealand. Our team understand the unique health needs of people as they age and can support people at each stage of the aging process including frailty, memory loss, palliative care and end of life.

In April 2024 we expanded our aged residential care services with the acquisition of Hub Aged Care, a Wellington-based practice specialising in medical services for aged residential care. We have further strengthened our commitment to ARC services with two more acquisitions, ARC Health Limited (ARC Health) in Christchurch, as well as Cicada Health in the Bay of Plenty Region. By broadening our reach across these important regions, it enables us to help meet the growing demand for high-quality care for older aged people. Read more here.

Our group of boutique community General Practices

Third Age Health has a small group of General Practices which provide comprehensive primary healthcare for people of all ages. These practices sometimes provide the ‘hub’ from which health care is provided to older people in that community, including those in local retirement villages and care homes. Find out more about our general practices here.

Third Age Health currently has six community general practices: Belmont Medical Centre, EastMED Doctors, Ponsonby Medical Centre, Devonport Family Medicine, Hawkes Bay Wellness and TAHI Care. Each practice has a dedicated healthcare team with varying combinations of General Practitioners, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and administration professionals.

Find out how Third Age Health can solve your challenge of providing quality medical services for the residents in your care.

Third Age Health has provided us with an excellent general practice healthcare service. Their practitioners always provide holistic care for our residents that is focused on wellbeing and quality of life. They are always receptive to our needs, the service is efficient and we are grateful they take care of the managing the clinical team.

Gail Kopa, Business and Care Manager, Oceania Elmwood Village, Auckland.

Senior Woman Sitting In Chair And Laughing With Nurse In Retirement Home

Focused on aged care

All of our clients are residential aged care facilities. This means our practice is set up to deliver health care services in a way that best suits the needs of care homes. There are many dedicated and passionate GPs in the community who struggle to meet the service elements listed below simply because of their own busy practices. With Third Age Health, older adults come first.

24/7 access to a General Practitioner or Nurse Practitioner

Residential aged care facilities are a 24/7 operation. Because our patients don’t stop requiring medical attention after business hours, our practice guarantees access to a medical practitioner over the phone, and house calls where required, any time of the day or night. Many care homes are forced to the ambulance service or after-hours clinics when residents need medical attention afterhours. This approach can lead to unnecessary hospital admissions, which can be traumatic for residents and can create additional risks of infection or illness. Your on-call Third Age Health practitioner can remotely access each resident’s medical notes and make informed, supportive decisions, at any time of the day or night.

Scaled up look on nurse checking arterial pressure

Regular, scheduled rounds by a Practitioner

While it sounds like a simple request, having a regular time for a GP visit is very important to a care home. Nursing staff have very busy days, and many responsibilities do not fit in well with a doctor’s round – meal times, medication rounds, and pharmacy cut-off times all mean timing is important.

Many GPs with busy general practices and other responsibilities are forced to fit their rounds in at times when there is insufficient nursing cover. This creates significant challenges for care home staff, and impacts negatively on residents. Because aged care is our focus, our clinicians stick to schedules set out in advance, allowing better planning and coordination with nursing teams. Having the same doctor each week creates a strong working relationship, and patients benefit.

Friendly nurse talking to senior patient

Guaranteed locum cover

Having a house doctor head away on leave for an extended period, fall ill, or move on unexpectedly can cause a huge amount of stress for care home staff. Concerns about GP cover take them away from what’s important – caring for their residents.

Third Age Health guarantees locum cover (a temporary replacement for your regular GP or nurse practitioner) whenever your regular doctor is unavailable. By making this commitment, we take the stress off our care homes’ plates, allowing them to relax in the knowledge that their residents will be covered.