Musculoskeletal service — Canterbury and West Coast

The Canterbury and West Coast musculoskeletal service is a publicly funded service. It is for patients with non-urgent musculoskeletal conditions that do not require surgery.


Contact us

To contact the Canterbury and West Coast musculoskeletal service:


Where to find us

The Canterbury and West Coast Musculoskeletal Service is at:

32 Oxford Terrace
PO Box 1600
Christchurch

We run clinics at the 24 hour surgery and the Riccarton Clinic.

24 hour surgery (external link)

Riccarton Clinic (external link)


Services we provide

Musculoskeletal services focus on problems, including pain, in:

  • muscles
  • tendons
  • ligaments
  • joints
  • bones.

The exception to this is inflammatory joint disease which is usually dealt with by rheumatologists.

As part of our service, you get:

  • a free 30 minute consultation with a registered musculoskeletal specialist at a community clinic
  • long term home-based rehabilitation exercises supervised by a physiotherapist.

Referral information

Referrals are accepted for patients who are registered with a medical practice in Canterbury or the West Coast districts.

You must be referred by a healthcare provider, either:

  • directly to our service
  • to the orthopaedic department of Christchurch Hospital or Te Nīkau, Grey Hospital and Health Centre — the hospital will triage your referral and, if appropriate, refer it on to us.

The service does not cover injury related problems that are funded by ACC.