Breaking the cost barrier: Free GP clinic opens in Hamilton

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

Free GP visits might sound like a modern fairy tale to some, but Tui Medical is continuing to “spin gold out of straw”.

The organisation celebrated the opening of a new clinic in central Hamilton on Tuesday, and, for those with a community services card, appointments won’t cost anything.

It’s a facility that a co-founder of the free system says is a wonderful way to provide healthcare to people who would otherwise go without.

Dr Leo Revell — who last year received a Mayoral Civic Award for his work in making healthcare accessible — estimated up to 100 people a day could be seen at the new place, depending on staff.

Other GP clinics might charge less for community service card holders, but Tui’s clinic broke the cost barrier because it didn’t charge at all, he said.

“We get just the same funding as they do, and somehow or another we managed to spin gold out of straw.“

Not only was this unusual for Hamilton, it was unusual throughout the entire country. The clinic received capitation funding from the government, and had no other special funding.

“It hasn’t made massive profits or anything…but at least we haven't made a loss.”

The new clinic, at 856 Victoria St, replaced the clinic formerly run by Tui at a site 100 metres up the road in central Hamilton.

There were differences between the two sites, Revell said.

Tui was growing fast and one of the problems they had been dealing with was not having enough rooms for the doctors they had. They “needed a lot of space”, and the new clinic would provide it.

“There may be two or three doctors because we'll have room there to see people.”

Like the old clinic, the new site will be used to train medical students, but the new place was nicely set up and would be a better environment.

“It’s a wonderful place for training medical students, a wonderful, absolutely outstanding place.”

Another change was that, as a trade-off for being seen for free, they had not previously allowed bookings and people sometimes had a long wait.

However, at the new clinic, people could arrive and secure a same-day appointment, rather than waiting in a queue.

Revell was unsure if he himself would be working in the new clinic, due to his own recent health issues, and said it would be headed by Dr Marina Pulu.

“She comes from Niue Island, and I trained her too, I'm very proud to say because she's such a good doctor.”

When he and his co-founders came up with the idea of a free clinic in late 2010, they had intended it as a way to help Pacific Islanders access health care, he said.

The clinic relied heavily on volunteer doctors in its early years, who had trained overseas and were seeking registration in New Zealand.

“It's wonderful for us because we get, not only seeing these people helped, but also the foreign doctors getting trained and joining us in the practice.”

All appointments used to be free, even for those who didn’t have a community service card, but Tui could not afford to keep this system running.

They still had many Islanders as patients, as well as Māori and Pākehā.

“So many people are finding it very hard. They might have two or three kids and they can't afford to pay even $20 to go and see the doctor because that's half their budget for food. It's really tough for people, and I suppose it's getting tougher.”

They had kept going for sixteen years, and he hoped they would keep providing free care long into the future.