Wellington offers a good choice of private hospital facilities and private medical specialists. Private hospitals provide non-urgent and elective treatments which complement the public health service's focus on urgent and essential treatments.

There are four private hospitals in Wellington:

• Boulcott Hospital, 666 High Street, Lower Hutt - the only private hospital in the Hutt Valley. It has three operating theatres and an endoscopy suite. Specialties include orthopaedics, gynaecology, general surgery, plastic surgery, urology and gastroenterology. Boulcott Hospital website
• Bowen Hospital, Churchill Drive, Crofton Downs - provides a range of services including sleep disorder treatments, x-ray, ear, nose and throat surgery and endoscopy.
  
  Bowen Hospital website
• Southern Cross Hospital, 90 Hansen Street, Newtown - run by the not-for-profit Southern Cross Healthcare Trust, which provides health and travel insurance and runs hospitals throughout the country. This hospital has three operating theatres. Southern Cross Hospital website
• Wakefield Hospital, Rintoul Street, Newtown - specialties include cardiac surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, arterial surgery, orthopaedic surgery, gynaecology, and spinal surgery. Wakefield Hospital website

Health Insurance

Sometimes the public health service is under pressure and non-urgent treatments have long waiting lists. Having health insurance means you can choose your doctor and the time and place of your treatment.

Some larger employers offer health insurance as part of salary packages. In some cases, the policy might cover other family members. For insurance companies, check the yellow pages telephone directory.

Yellow Pages website

Dental Care

Dental care for adults is not publicly funded. For an adult, a dental check-up in Wellington can cost anything in the range of $50 to $90. Oral care providers in Wellington - such as dentists, oral surgeons, orthodontists, and dental therapists - are listed in the yellow pages telephone directory. The Dental Council also has an online directory of registered New Zealand dentists.

Primary school children receive free dental care from School Dental Service therapists who operate out of mobile clinics. This covers routine preventative and restorative treatments. Children requiring specialist care, such as teeth straightening or surgery, are usually referred to a private dentist.

Young people receive free dental care until they are 18, provided by private dentists funded by District Health Boards. Not all treatments are free. If your child requires a treatment not funded by the Government, such as tooth straightening, it will be at your expense. Capital and Coast District Health Board or Hutt Valley District Health Board can tell you which dentists in your area are contracted to provide free adolescent services.

• Capital and Coast District Health Board website
• Dental Council of New Zealand website
• Hutt Valley District Health Board website
• New Zealand Dental Association website

Eye Care

Most routine eye care in New Zealand is not publicly funded. You will need to pay to see an optometrist if you need spectacles. A good optometrist is best found by word of mouth. Alternatively, you can check the yellow pages telephone directory, or the New Zealand Association of Optometrists website.

Spectacles or eyeglasses are prescribed by optometrists and purchased from private firms. Buying spectacles can be expensive but the price varies according to the prescription and brand of the spectacles.

If you have an eye disease or a problem requiring greater specialist knowledge than an optometrist can provide, they will refer you to an ophthalmologist, doctor, or to the Eye Department at Wellington Hospital. Any public hospital treatment will be free.

New Zealand Association of Optometrists website