New hospital plan revealed

Health Hub hospital

A surgical hospital where patients stay for up to 48 hours will form part of the new $150 million Cambridge Health Hub on Laurent Road.

An artist’s impression showing the revised Health Hub hospital

The hospital replaces what was to be a single-storey Rehabilitation Hub which was to have a physiotherapist’s studio, indoor and outdoor gymnasium, hydrotherapy pool and smaller tenancies.

It will be a four-theatre hospital with a two-theatre day surgery function.

The site will still have a general practitioner and urgent care doctors’ surgery, pharmacy, radiology, blood collection, dentist, audiology, orthodontist and optometrist.

The developer, named in Waipā District Council papers as Medical Pacific Ltd, resubmitted a revised resource consent last year reflecting the change. The original one was granted in 2021.

Luk Chin

Companies Office records show Medical Pacific was removed from the registry in May 1992, but a company called The Health Hub Cambridge Ltd – registered in April 2020 with anaesthetist and trotting trainer and driver Luk Chin and P & J Hogan listed as shareholders – does appear on the registry.

The News interviewed Chin last year and he confirmed he was developing the facility with Justine Lady Hogan, widow of legendary horse breeder Sir Patrick Hogan.

The 81-year-old says he is determined to get the New Zealand health service back on track.

He will talk at a Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Business After 5 event at Shoof next month where he will give an overview on The Health Hub progress.

Dunedin-born Chin first came to the Waikato in 1966 when he trained as a house surgeon at Waikato Hospital. It was when he headed overseas in the late 1960s that he met his Australian wife to be Robyn. The two married in 1969 and went on to have two sons – David, chief executive at LIC and Andrew, strategy manager at Auckland City Council – and now five grandchildren.

Chin worked at Waikato Hospital for more than 40 years – becoming a leading intensivist and pain specialist – and while there helped develop the Anglesea Clinic in Hamilton.

He still trains a small team of trotters at his Bruntwood Road property and drives regularly at Cambridge Raceway and in Auckland.

See: On the buses

See: Health Hub unveiled

See: Winning tip from the stables

An artist’s impression showing the revised Health Hub hospital with Victoria Road in the background.

 

More Recent News

It’s a top shot

Waikato photographer Lucy Schultz has been highly commended in this year’s Oceania photography contest run by The Nature Conservancy for a photo she took on Sanctuary Mountain. Her image ‘Moa Hunter’ shows Bodie Taylor (Ngāti…

Feral cat call gets support

Waipā has welcomed the announcement that feral cats will be added to New Zealand’s Predator Free 2050 strategy. Last week conservation Minister Tama Potaka confirmed feral cats will join possums, rats, stoats, weasels and ferrets…

Message received

Cambridge Community Board chair Charlotte FitzPatrick and board member Chris Minneé took an early step towards explaining the board’s work to the wider public when they addressed last week’s final meeting for 2025 of the…

Fatigue: a killer on the road

Coroner Rachael Schmidt-McCleave has issued a warning to motorists ahead of the festive season about driver fatigue. Scania Rangi Te Whare of Te Kūiti died from injuries suffered in a crash at Ngāhinapōuri in November…