How we are caring for you during COVID-19

April 17, 2020 at 6:51 PM

Dear All, Kia ora koutou!

We hope you are all coping ok and staying safe in your bubbles. Thank you for all the kindness you have shown towards us and towards each other in our amazing community.

As we hopefully near the end of level four lockdown, we wanted to touch base with our patients and whanau to get us all thinking about how things will be going forward to keep us all safe and to continue to stop the spread of COVID-19. It’s likely that we will be doing things differently for a while.

We want you to feel supported and well cared for and to let you know we are all still here and are ready to help.

During the Level 4 lockdown, you may have been putting off contacting us about your health concerns due to worries about burdening us. We don’t want you to be worrying about your health and we want to be managing your health concerns in a timely way so PLEASE contact us as you would normally.

We can assess you by phone, video consultation, email consultation or in person if a physical examination is needed.

We are open from 8am-5pm Monday to Friday. We will re-open our late nights again on Tuesday and Wednesday when we move to level 2.

Your usual doctor will be working their normal hours, but they may not be always physically in the medical centre. We are working hard to make sure we see you in the safest and most useful way to solve your issues.

You can help us by:

Being ready to be phoned back by a nurse or doctor if you phone to make an appointment. This is to work out the best way to help you.
Using your ManageMyHealth portal to book your appointment. Please state what sort of consultation you would like when you book.
If you are a registered patient but do not have ManageMyHealth please use the on-line EASY BOOKING link on our website page https://swansonmedical.co.nz . Anyone can use this link and you don’t have to be registered.
If you are asked to attend the medical centre, please wait in your car at your appointment time. We will call you in when we are ready for you.
If you request a script through ManagemyHealth, please tell us which pharmacy you want it to go to. We are avoiding pick ups from the medical centre.

We know this time may be very stressful financially and are keen that you let us know if this is the case for you or your family. We can help with this. We want everyone to have access to the care they need. We can also link you into services that could help, and we can advocate for you as well.

For some of you, this unsettling time may lead to you feeling anxious, sad, lonely or you may be experiencing mental distress. Please know that we are here to help you and we can offer mental health support through our practice, often for free.

If you are asked to come to the medical centre, we will endeavour to keep your physical contact with us and the inside of our building to a minimum- we will talk you through how this will work for you.

Video consults are through our dedicated and secure site https://swansonmed.doxy.me. Please click on this and arrive yourself at the time of your booked appointment. Your doctor will see you waiting there and click you through into consultation. Please check you have the latest version of Chrome or Firefox on your device.

Flu vaccine: This is currently available and free to our priority groups-that is anyone over the age of 65years, as well as being recommended to all pregnant women or those people with underlying health conditions. Please book with reception for your flu vaccine.

Our usual charges apply. We are emailing and sometimes texting the invoices to you and we appreciate direct on-line banking payment- our bank account will be on the invoice sent to you. If you are unable to pay online, we are happy for you to pay once we are out of lockdown.

If you have any questions or are unsure what to do, please call our lovely reception team on 098339433 and they will advise you.

Thank you for your patience and kindness.

Arohanui and Kia Kaha

The team at Swanson Medical Centre

17/4/2020