Influenza Vaccine 2020

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

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

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.

Summer Holidays 2019-2020

Tarawera Medical Centre wish all our patients a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. As usual we will be closed on the stat holidays. Normal clinics will run on the Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Now would be a good time to check that you have enough of your medicines to last through the holidays and order/collect repeats early this week if needed.

We will be closed on Christmas and Boxing Day, New Year and 2nd January but open normal hours on;

Monday 23rd and 30th December

Tuesday 24th and 31st December

Friday 27th December and 3rd January

When we are closed the normal nurse triage is available by phone as is the GP afterhours service at Whakatane Hospital.

Snow White’s Immunisation Day

Snow White visits the Tarawera Medical Centre for an Immunisation Day

With the measles outbreak centred in Auckland the nurses  have been extremely busy with immunisations to ensure all who want protection have been able to receive it. This week Snow White and her helper appeared to help with the effort and impressed young and old. This was an initiative of Michele Pearson-Garcia who has recently joined the nursing team. She was supported by all the staff including Tracy Wilson who joined the fun in costume too.

Tracy Wilson and Michele Pearson-Garcia in costume for the Snow White Immunisation Day

The measles outbreak is a timely reminder not to become complacent about illnesses that many have forgotten. Some of us grew up in an age when measles, whooping cough, mumps, rubella were a right of passage. These had long term implications for some and it was just accepted as random tragedy as there was no way of preventing it. To better understand this issue the Health Promotion Agency/Te Hiringa Hauora website has a number of resouces including this video.