December 2021 Update
Xmas 21 – New Year 22 opening hours
Our opening hours for the Xmas-New Year here.
While the clinic is closed, our GPs still provide oncall services during that time. The team splits into two teams to work over this very busy period, while still allowing them to have some downtime with their families.
Our beach clinic is closed from 5pm Friday 24th December and re-opens 8.30am Monday 10th January.
Our GPs are oncall 8am – 10pm on the days we are closed, and are available for you should you become unwell – call 04 2936 002 (option 1).
Staff Changes
Diane Carter
At the end of November, after 25 years as a GP at Waikanae Health, we said goodbye to Dr Carter, as she set out into the sun into semi-retirement. However, she has assured us she will be back to do some locum work for us in 2022.
Matt Gaston & Maaike Franken
We have recently welcomed Drs Maaike Franken & Matt Gaston to our GP team.
Dr Maaike, her husband Victor and young son Felix, have just joined us from Holland and will be with us for the next 2-3 years. Maaike has been learning the ropes, and will be looking at registering patients with her sometime in January.
Dr Matt has joined us from the Wellington Hospital and is locuming across the whole practice, covering for doctors who are on leave, triaging patients for urgency, helping with overflow appointments, and supporting our Urgent Care Unit. Matt will not have patients registered with him.
Dr Celine Sinclair
Dr Celine Sinclair will be with us from 1 February 2022 for 6 months as part of the GP training program, where like Dr Matt, she will locum across the whole practice, and will not have patients registered with her.
Accessing urgent care
We remind you that we work to different care pathways when distinguishing between clinical urgency and routine/non urgent care. We often hear the comment that if you wait 2 weeks to get into see a doctor for something that is not urgent, what happens when you get really unwell? If you have not seen it already, check out how to access urgent/same day care here. Please do not sit and wait at home thinking you cannot get in to see your GP if you are really unwell.
Phone callback system
We remind you that we have a callback option on our phone system so you do not need to wait on line. The system automatically defaults to recording the number you are calling from, so if you need to change that number you can. Simply follow the instructions – NOTE that the pound key is the # key (apologies we cannot change this as it is a setup in the system)
After-hours telehealth service coming in early February
As you will know, in late November we made the decision to close our Saturday clinic. We did so knowing that our PHO, Tu Ora Compass Health, was working with two other PHOs across the country to start an after-hours telehealth service. This service will not be run by our doctors, although the clinicians who provide the consultations will have access to the medical information that we hold, and our doctors are sent your consultation notes after the consultation has finished. This was originally scheduled for the beginning of December but due to Covid was delayed until early February. We will let you know more about the service closer to the go-live date.
Ear suctioning
Covid Update
We know you will have lots of questions regarding Covid, please see the latest information here including whether you can be seen if you are unvaccinated (against Covid-19) and what is happening with boosters and childrens vaccines.