West Coast PHO Paver Pounders

The West Coast Primary Health Organisation (PHO) is a non-government organisation (NGO) whose mission is to help West Coasters get healthy and stay that way.

The PHO gets most of its revenue from the Ministry of Health, via contracts with the West Coast District Health Board (DHB). It works closely with the local DHB, but is an independent organisation with it's own Board of Trustees.

The PHO is the major funder of medical centres or general practices around the West Coast. West Coasters enrolled with a medical centre on the Coast will be enrolled with the PHO for health funding subsidies. The subsidies the PHO provides medical centres means the cost for patients to visit their general practitioner (GP) or practice nurse is considerably lower than it would otherwise be.

The PHO also provides a number of health services itself, such as counselling, health navigation and green prescription. PHO staff involved in these health services work closely with medical centres and, in many cases, deliver their services in or through the local medical centre. If you see a West Coast PHO car zapping around the Coast, it's likely to be a PHO staff member heading out to a medical centre to treat or support another West Coaster.

The PHO, along with Community and Public Health, is also behind many of the health promotion messages and campaigns you will see around the Coast.