Te Whatu Ora Waitaha covers an area of the East Coast of the South Island from Kaikōura District in the north, to Ashburton District in the south, as well as the Chatham Islands. It is responsible for the health of an estimated 567,870 people.
Roughly 80 percent of this population lives in the Greater Christchurch area, with the rest dispersed over a large geographical area. Te Whatu Ora Waitaha is the second largest Te Whatu Ora in terms of population and area. It has the fastest-growing Māori population, and the sixth largest total Māori population. Around 10 percent of the regions population is Asian, and this is its fastest-growing ethnic group. Te Whatu Ora Waitaha has the largest population aged over 75.
Te Whatu Ora Waitaha owns and operates five major hospital facilities in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Ashburton, and almost 30 smaller rural hospitals and community bases around the region.
On top of providing health services to its own population, Te Whatu Ora provides many specialised services to people referred from other regions where these services are not available.
Te Whatu Ora also provides many services for the population of the Tai Poutini West Coast. The two regions have several formal partnership agreements.
The Chief Executive of Canterbury Te Whatu Ora is also Chief Executive of West Coast Te Whatu Ora. Several managers and members of the Executive Management Team hold positions at both regions.
