Yearly Archives: 2020

COVID-19 Update 23 March 2020

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Today has been a crazy day with the change in the way we have to run the practice to keep our patients safe and with the escalation to pandemic alert level three.

Our team worked brilliantly under trying conditions with internet access lost and severe limitations on phone capacity due to the volume of calls. Despite this we managed to safely attend to every patient that arrived at the practice, issued over six times the number of scripts we do in the day and were continually on surgery landlines and personal mobile phones to deal with patient issues remotely.

It is important to emphasise that as an essential service the surgery and pharmacies remain operational regardless of the alert level. There is no need to panic and request scripts earlier than you normally would. We will be there to help deal with your issues when you need us.

We anticipate that tomorrow will run as smoothly as today but should be an improvement as the internet returned just before we closed at 6pm tonight. Spark is arranging additional phone lines for us and we will be exploring video consultation options. Tomorrow will also see the start of influenza vaccination clinics as advised in an earlier post today.

Influenza Vaccine 2020

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The annual influenza vaccine is now available. The priority is to initially maximise coverage for patients eligible for free vaccination. This group is all pregnant women, everyone over 65 or those under 65 with diabetes or a chronic heart or lung condition. Full definitions available at fightflu.co.nz

From 13 April the influenza vaccine will be available to everyone else that wishes to self fund vaccination.

Because the aim of influenza vaccine is to reduce infection vaccinations will only be offered in the afternoons between 2:30pm and 4pm. This will avoid the situation of well people having to wait with sick people during the busy morning sessions.

To keep healthy patients attending for vaccination out of the main surgery Influenza vaccines will be done in the Pathlab part of the building. This will be only for people eligible for free vaccines until 13 April. This will be on first come first served basis and constrained by the number of vaccines we have available. We have our first batch available and another on order.

There may be limited capacity in the surgery for waiting the suggested 20 minutes after the vaccination so it would be ideal if you could come with another person so that you can wait in your car following vaccination.

COVID-19 Update 22 March 2020

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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.

Coronavirus – COVID-19

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With confirmation of the first case of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in New Zealand it is worth reviewing what to do if you are concerned that you may have had contact/contracted the virus.

Most importantly, please DO NOT just arrive at the surgery unannounced as this would risk infecting all other patients and staff and potentially disrupt ongoing health provision to the community as staff may have to be quarantined if exposed. Phone ahead for advice and ideally PHONE the dedicated Healthline number 0800 358 5453 which is available 24 hours a day and will provide the appropriate advice for your situation.  

Information is being updated regularly by the Ministry of Health so it is best to access the latest advice at the COVID-10 (Novel Coronavirus) page.