General medicine — South Canterbury

The general medicine service provides treatment for a wide variety of medical illnesses, such as those affecting the lungs, heart, brain and kidneys — for people who do not need surgery.

On this page

Contact us

For all general enquiries, contact Timaru Hospital main reception:

Where to find us

General medicine services can be found at:

Timaru Hospital
Queen Street
Parkside 
Timaru 7910

  • outpatient clinics — hospital level 1
  • medical ward — hospital level 1
  • intensive care unit (ICU) — hospital level 5.

Hospital map — Timaru Hospital

Timaru Hospital mapPDF1.5 MB

Services we provide

As part of general medical services, we provide a number of sub-speciality services, either with Timaru Hospital staff or with visiting speciality clinics. These include clinics for:

  • medical oncology (cancer)
  • cardiology (heart)
  • diabetes
  • gastroenterology
  • respiratory
  • neurology (brain and nervous system)
  • nephrology (kidneys)
  • rheumatology
  • dermatology (skin — provided in Christchurch).

Inpatient services consist of:

  • a 24-bed medical ward — this is a multidisciplinary secondary level inpatient unit which provides ongoing patient assessment, investigations, diagnosis, stabilisation and treatment
  • a 7-bed critical care and intensive care unit — this is a multipurpose level 2 unit for treating critically ill patients
  • a medical investigations unit — this provides diagnostic services.

Medical Investigations Unit (internal link)

Referral information

Criteria for referral to general medicine at Timaru Hospital are documented in HealthPathways Aoraki. Referrals can be made using the electronic request management system to the outpatient appointment office.