More than 5,500 extra patients have enrolled with WeCare in the past year, as the Canterbury healthcare provider marks 12 months since opening its Faringdon clinic.

Enrolments have climbed from about 24,500 a year ago.

“We’ve now passed 30,000 enrolled patients. Thirty thousand people who chose us, from a standing start of 1,300, without us buying a single practice,” WeCare managing director Brian Ko said.

WeCare operates its clinics as one connected network, and patients can enrol and be seen at any of them, so growth was not measured clinic by clinic, the company said.

The Faringdon clinic offers WeCare’s full range of care along with an onsite pharmacy, and is open seven days a week.

Its opening gave a whole new community access to affordable care, with real choice in how and when they were seen, the company said.

Consultations start at $25 for a CareNow consult and $60 for a general practice visit, available online or in person, the same fees WeCare charged three years ago.

“We’ve held our prices down and we’ve kept expanding services instead of shrinking them. Same funding environment. Same formula working against us. Different answer, because we focused on a solution,” Ko said.

The company put that down to efficient, accessible care rather than passing rising costs on to patients.

With demand for affordable healthcare growing across Canterbury, WeCare was looking at opportunities to bring its model to more communities.