The COVID-19/Coronavirus situation continues to evolve rapidly. For accurate up to date information visit www.covid19.govt.nz. The following points are extremely important to avoid compromising ongoing GP services to the community. At risk people arriving unannounced risk spreading disease and forcing medical staff into isolation;

As of Monday morning 23 March 2020;

Walk-in Clinics are suspended until further notice

The Medical Centre is closed to everyone unless they have been triaged by phone and asked to attend the surgery.

If you feel you need to be seen please phone and leave your phone number and email contact address and you will be contacted for triage by a member of our clinical staff and an appointment arranged if needed. Our priority is to see those who need to be seen while protecting them from risk

Advice from the NZ Medical Association and RNZCGP on Saturday 21 March is that we move to virtual consultations via phone, email or video to limit the risk of spreading illness in people congregating in surgery waiting rooms. This is going to place a large load on admin, nursing and medical staff so we need to ask that you only contact the surgery for the most urgent issues. Please try and use the email script request form to keep the phone lines as free as possible.

Stay home if you are sick

IF you have any of these symptoms:

fever
cough
shortness of breath
sneezing or a runny nose
THEN call your GP, before you visit.

If you do not have a GP call Healthline (for free) on 0800 358 5453.

These symptoms do not necessarily mean you have COVID-19. The symptoms are similar to other illnesses that are much more common, such as colds and flu.

You also need to:

stay at home
avoid close or prolonged contact with other people
stop having visitors to your home, and
stay off public transport

ACC and WINZ certificates can at present be completed by telephone consultation so please phone to see if this can be arranged for your specific need.

With the Prime Minister’s Saturday request that people over the age of 70 or with underlying medical conditions stay home if at all possible, practice visits for routine 3 monthly reviews and prescriptions should be deferred. Please use the repeat prescription form , Manage my Health or phone for repeat prescriptions which can be faxed to the Pharmacy of your choice.

These are challenging times and we will need to adapt to manage and avoid overwhelming the health system. Social distancing will help to limit the spread of winter colds and ‘flu as well as COVID-19. This has to be our priority at present so we appreciate your patience and understanding as we negotiate these challenges together.