Tarawera Medical Centre

Congratulations Dr. Aidan Williams

Aidan with his FRNZCGP certificate and MRCGP certificate on the wall

Aidan completed his GP training in the UK achieving the qualification MRCGP in 2011. Since moving to New Zealand and joining the Tarawera Medical Centre he has completed the New Zealand College requirements to gain Fellowship of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (FRNZCGP) which is the New Zealand equivalent qualification. He is our first doctor to hold the dual qualifications but will shortly be followed by Dr. Louisa Barter who is about to complete her final assessment.

Free Services at Tarawera Medical Centre

Those who aren’t new arrivals in town will know that we have always worked to provide an affordable service with many free and discounted services. Contraceptive visits have been free for 25 years, long before the PHA free Sexual Health visits for under 25 year-olds that are now available at all PHA practices. Other PHA initiatives such as smoking cessation visits, Diabetes Annual Reviews and Heart Health Assessments and Palliative Care visits are available at Tarawera Medical Centre, like all other EBPHA practices. We have also provided free smears to all our patients for many years. Over 10 years ago we brought Very Low Cost Access to Kawerau which saw visits for all adults drop from $30+ to $16 and have only slowly increased to $17.50 (this is a government capped fee). In addition, all children under 18 and all ACC visits are free. The one service that we offer to our patients, that no other practice in the Eastern Bay can offer to their enrolled patients is free skin cancer surgery for eligible cancers up to Advance Plus level. Patients enrolled in other practices need to travel to Tarawera Medical Centre to access this level of skin cancer surgery.

All these free services are available from 8 to 6 every weekday, with walk in clinics every morning from 8 to 12 and again on Friday afternoon from 4:30. Booked appointments are available every day as well. We don’t shut down over lunch and you are always seen by fully qualified nurses and doctors as we don’t employ health care assistants with limited clinical training. Having recently celebrated 25 years in town with our third surgery update and extension we are enjoying the continued loyalty and support of our long established and many newly enrolled patients.

PRIME – working with St. John

Four of the Tarawera Medical Centre team (Tony, Mick, Louisa and Jackie) spent their weekend with a group of rural GPs and nurses completing a PRIME update course with St. John in Hamilton. We have always supported the St. John ambulance staff with the fantastic job they do for our community and with the advent of the PRIME service our doctors completed the original series of courses. These were a one week intensive course with theoretical and practical training in emergency management of medical and accident emergencies and included numerous scenarios including extrication of injured patients from vehicle accidents in conjunction with Fire Service and Ambulance staff. Louisa completed her initial course soon after starting to work with us (this is her second update course) and Aidan completed his initial course last year soon after he began at the Tarawera Medical Centre. We spend a weekend every two years updating skills and learning the latest procedures and techniques as they evolve and this helps us work as efficiently as possible in supporting our local ambulance. We often respond and assist at medical and accident incidents, the most dramatic of which had 4 of us involved in calling in 3 helicopters to evacuate 4 injured children from a car accident, all of whom did well despite significant injuries. We have been the only practice in Kawerau to ever do this training and Kawerau, with Opotiki, are the only Eastern Bay towns to have this service. St. John is part of the wide team we work with to offer comprehensive Primary Health Care to our community and we enjoy the ability to work efficiently with them. Thanks to Kath and John, the two Intensive Care Paramedics, who ran a great course. Congratulations to our team who all passed the end of course assessments.

Mick Lavelle managing an emergency scenario

The group watching a demonstration by the two St.John paramedic instructors

Mick, Louisa and Jackie practicing with a Kendrick Extraction Device to remove an injured person form a vehicle

Free visits for all under 18 / More awards for Tarawera Medical Centre

Under the school-based system all students at Tarawera High have had free access to services at Tarawera Medical Centre on referral from the nurse, Jo Knott, for years. As part of our 25 year celebrations we are extending this to all under 18 year olds. There is still an advantage to accessing the service via the school system as this can remove the barrier of prescription costs.

Other news this week is that TMC received 2 awards for the excellent work our nurses have done in immunisation. We achieved the highest rates of immunisation for 8 month olds and the greatest improvement in immunisation of 2 year olds. To achieve this despite the work that had to go into preparing for our Cornerstone assessment is a real credit to their dedication. Yesterday Dr. Aidan Williams, Jackie Morris and Sarah Morris attended the EBPHA Awards Evening and were presented with certificates in recognition of these achievements.

Immunisation is a crucial intervention to prevent illness and improve the health of individuals and communities. Over the past 25 years we have seen dramatic reductions of illnesses such as Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Haemophilus infections. Recent campaigns for HPV immunisation should have benefits that will continue for years with reduced risk of cervical cancer. This year a vaccine was added for Rotavirus which should see a reduction in cases of severe gastroenteritis. The recent outbreaks of measles internationally and in certain areas of New Zealand are a timely reminder of the importance of immunisation. Seeing a child suffering with a preventable illness that can have permanent consequences is very frustrating and upsetting.

For more information on the immunisation schedule see the Immunisation Advisory Centre website

Margaret, Shannin and Jackie with the certificates recognising their great work.

Tarawera Medical Centre celebrates 25 years in Kawerau

This month marks 25 years since the Tarawera Medical Centre opened as Kawerau’s first ever medical centre, the town having previously been served by solo practices. Celebrations kicked off today with the blessing of our recently extended and refurbished facilities. The blessing was performed by George Raerino and Graham Te Rire and attended by a large group from the wide team that we work with in the community. These included the Mayor, representatives from Whakatane Hospital, the Eastern Bay of Plenty Health Aliance, Tuwharetoa Ki Kawerau Hauora, Kawerau and Tarawera Pharmacies, Tarawera High School, Community Respiratory nurses and School Rheumatic fever prevention team. It was great to share this celebration with some of the broader team we have worked with to provide Primary Care to the Kawerau population over the past quarter century. It is these long established relationships that help us to efficiently access the necessary services for our patients. Margaret Paul was recognised for her long service, having been practice nurse at one of the practices prior to amalgamation into the Tarawera Medical Centre.

Mayor, Malcolm Campbell, expressed kind words of appreciation for the dedication and quality of service provided to the community, especially through the trying times after the departure of Dr. Ian Bissett, and this was echoed by Chris Marjoribanks from the Hauora. Michele Murray from EBPHA also commented on the quality of the practice and complimented the practice as being the first to have completed Cornerstone reaccreditation. Since the arrival of Dr. Aidan Williams in early 2013 and the return of Dr. Louisa Barter in late 2013 we have at last returned to a decent staffing level and this was further improved when Dr. Byrdie Johnson began in March this year.

After the blessing and speeches it was great to enjoy some lunch and a warm drink with our guests before getting back into a busy afternoon of work. Fortunately the weather smiled on us and there were no urgent PRIME callouts like the one Dr. Lavelle had attended earlier in the day – the clinics had been so busy through the morning that it seemed we may not finish in time for the planned 12:30 start. Special thanks to Jeanette Edwards and the rest of the staff that put all the time into organising the day.