Category: Practice

Flu Vaccines from 1 Apr 2025

Get Ready for Flu Season

To book you flu vaccine with us e-mail vaccines@waiukumedical.co.nz

or call 09 235 9102 AFTER 10am 

We’re excited to let you know that our nurse-led flu vaccination clinics will begin on 1st April! 

Flu vaccination is FREE for the following groups:

– Pregnant people – Protects both you and your baby in the first months of life
– People aged 65 and over
– People with medical conditions, including asthma, diabetes, heart disease, serious mental health conditions and other long-term illnesses
– Children aged 6 months to 4 years with a history of significant respiratory illness

For additional guidance on eligibility see: https://schedule.pharmac.govt.nz/ScheduleOnline.php?edition=&osq=Influenza+vaccine

For other registered patients, we are offering the flu vaccine at the reduced fee of $26.

Influenza is a contagious virus that can cause serious illness, even in healthy individuals. 

The earlier you get vaccinated, the sooner you’ll be protected – so get in quick and be prepared for the winter season! 

Annual vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your whānau.

Why get vaccinated?

• Flu isn’t just a bad cold – It can lead to hospitalisation, particularly for those with long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and heart disease.
• Protects your whānau – Vaccination helps reduce the spread of flu in the community, safeguarding vulnerable groups, including pēpi (babies), older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.
• Safe and effective – The flu vaccine has been used for decades with an excellent safety record. It does not contain live virus and cannot give you the flu.
• Annual protection is essential – Immunity from the flu vaccine wanes over time, so getting vaccinated each year gives you the best possible defence.

For more details, visit https://healthify.nz/medicines-a-z/i/influenza-vaccine-adults

Help keep yourself and your whānau safe this flu season!

Getting Help for Winter Illness 2025

Busy times … as we head into cooler months, demand for appointments rises. We are working hard to meet your needs, but we have some staff shortages and waiting times may be affected pending recruitment. We will have the support of some GP Locums who will be helping out in practice and with telephone consultations.

Before calling it may be useful to check out the Healthify He Puna Website for advice on managing common winter infections and other health conditions. Find out how to take care of yourself and whānau at home, what to watch out for and when to seek medical advice.  Go to https://healthify.nz/health-a-z/w/winter-infections/

We know you want support from your local health care team unfortunately, from time to time and especially early in the week, the limited number of appointments in our Triage Service Clinics get fully booked. (Remember we are not an urgent care facility, and these clinics are for enrolled patients.) We may still be able to offer advice by phone, but this too becomes very busy and there are a range of other options for urgent advice and consultation:

1. Urgent Care Franklin, 12 Glasgow Rd, Pukekohe, Open daily 8am to 8pm, for all urgent care needs – 09 2386610
2. KAORA Telecare, Available 5pm – 8am weekdays and 24 hours weekends and holidays for telephone and video consults (Children FREE, CSC rates offered) https://kaora.co.nz/app/
3. Healthline FREE Any Day or Time 0800 611 116

Remember in a Medical Emergency don’t hesitate to dial 111.

If you need a routine appointment, please try and book well in advance; we recommend looking 2-3 weeks ahead. Don’t forget to get your flu vaccination, available from 1 Apr 25: e-mail vaccines@waiukumedical.co.nz to book.

New Patient Management System and Portal

Between 4 and 15 November 2024, we will be implementing a new Practice Management System (PMS). 

We are excited that the new system will enhance the services we can offer, but there will inevitably be some disruption during implementation, as staff are firstly trained on the new system and then become accustomed to using it. 

One impact is that during the implementation period, we will have fewer than usual appointments available in both booked and on the day clinics. Please bear with us … and consider if your routine appointment can wait until after the implementation.  As ever, please request repeat prescriptions well in advance of running out of medications.

Remember, if we are temporarily unavailable, care can be accessed via our partners as follows: Nw

Urgent Care Franklin, 12 Glasgow Rd Pukekohe, 8:00am to 8:00pm

Ka Ora Telecare, 0800 252 672, 5:00pm to 8:00am

Healthline, 0800 0611 116, Any Time

To allow the migration of data between systems, please note we will be CLOSED on Saturday 9 November 2024. On Monday 11 November 2024 we will open later than usual at 9 am.

If you are currently signed up to ManageMyHealth, you will shortly receive communications on how to switch to the new patient portal MyIndici.

Getting Help for Winter Illness

Busy times … we know you may be experiencing phone queues and long waits for call backs at the moment, with winter illnesses causing very high demand.  Please bear with us.

Before calling it may be useful to check out the Healthify He Puna Website for advice on managing common winter infections. Find out how to take care of yourself and whānau at home, what to watch out for and when to seek medical advice.  Go to https://healthify.nz/health-a-z/w/winter-infections/

We know you want support from your local health care team and are working hard to see as many people as possible. Unfortunately, from time to time and especially early in the week our Triage Clinics get fully booked. Don’t worry, our nurses are usually still able to offer advice by phone and there are a range of other options for urgent advice and consultation:

1. Urgent Care Franklin, 12 Glasgow Rd, Pukekohe, Open daily 8am to 8pm, for all urgent care needs – 09 2386610
2. KAORA Telecare, Available 5pm – 8am weekdays and 24 hours weekends and holidays for telephone and video consults (Children FREE, CSC rates offered) https://kaora.co.nz/app/
3. Healthline FREE Any Day or Time 0800 611 116

Remember in a Medical Emergency don’t hesitate to dial 111.

If you need a routine appointment, please try and book well in advance.

Fee Changes from 1 Jul 24

In the 2 years since we last raised our fees for medical appointments costs have risen significantly and after careful review, new fees will apply from 1 Jul 24.

Car Clinic and Indoor Triage   We are not an Accident and Medical Facility but see many urgent presentations a day.  This requires additional space, telephone triage and nurse assessment and treatment, in addition to the medical consultation, so is more costly than a standard GP appointment.  Therefore, from 1 Jul 24 our fees for urgent non-ACC appointments via our Car Clinic and Triage services will be:

Given these increases, we will reduce our Saturday and Public Holiday surcharge from $15.00 to $5.00.

Standard GP Consult Fees will be increased by a lesser amount as follows: 

We aim to keep fees to a minimum while offering fair pay to staff and ensuring our services are sustainable.

Our fees for most registered patients are lower than with other providers locally including urgent care.

If you have difficulty paying for your appointment, please let us know. One option is to set up a small regular automatic payment to spread the cost.

Nurse Consult Fee Increases

From 1 Apr 24, regular Nurse Consult Fees will be as follows:

Please note:
• Additional fees may be chargeable for certain procedures and after-hours.
• The fees increase reflects rising costs of providing the services.
• We last increased nurse fees in 2011.
• Our nurses are highly skilled and offer a wide range of services.

As always, we do not wish cost to be a barrier. If you have difficulty paying for your appointment, please let us know.