In these times of change, we thought it would be useful to let you know how we are still serving our community here at the Kaipara Medical Centre.

With medical centre waiting rooms being identified overseas as risky places during a pandemic, we are trying to do most of our consultations with our patients on the phone. Hopefully, we will soon be able to offer you a video consultation. Phone and video consultations are a safe way to provide you with health care, and means we are protecting both you and our staff.

Of course, there are some medical issues where you need to be seen face to face. When this is the case, we will make you an appointment in the usual way. However, when you arrive at the medical centre please stay in your car and phone us on 09 420 8400 to let us know you have arrived. Either a doctor or a nurse will come out to collect you and bring you through to the clinic room.

Each day we will have one doctor managing non-infective urgent cases- such as non-COVID19 infections, injuries etc, and one doctor who is the "viral doctor "for the day. The viral doctor will see potentially infective patients in their cars in the carpark. The viral doctor will be wearing full personal protective equipment (goggles, gown, gloves, mask).

At time of writing, if someone needs to be swabbed for COVID-19, then we will refer them down to our nearest testing centre in Waimauku.

The other doctors will be doing their routine appointments ideally virtually over phone or video. For those patients who usually use Manage My Health we will be opening this up soon for you to book phone/video consultations. However, in the interim please ring the practice to make an appointment.

Current advice for people who are swabbed because they fit the criteria from the Ministry of Health for COVID-19 testing, even if you have a negative result, you must quarantine for two weeks.

For prescriptions, to help the workload for the pharmacy and their exposure, we are delivering prescriptions each day down to the pharmacy rather than patients picking them up from the medical centre and taking the prescriptions down themselves. We are sending a text to confirm when this is done.

An important matter to raise for everyone, is that there are other health needs that still need to be managed despite the lockdown, so I would please ask that if you are worried about your chronic health condition please contact us on 09 420 8400 as we are still available to help you.