For Uni students aged 13-25yrs : Please make an appointment with the Nurse within 3 months of leaving for Uni, this allows timing for the 2 nd dose 1 month after the 1st . Please see the vaccines below that are time sensitive for eligibility: Meningococcal B vaccine Until 31 August 2025
Up to three doses of MenB (Bexsero) (dependent on age at first dose) are funded for a catchup programme for all children under 59 months of age (inclusive).
Two doses for individuals aged 13-25 who are entering within the next three months, or in their first year of living in boarding school hostels, tertiary education halls of residence, military barracks, or prisons.
Until 28 February 2024 – Two doses for individuals aged 13-25 who are currently in their second, third or more years of living in boarding school hostels, tertiary education halls of residence, military barracks, or prisons. Meningococcal A, C, Y, W vaccine
Adolescents and young adults aged 13-25 years inclusively, who are entering within the next 3 months, or are in their first year of living in a boarding school hostel, tertiary education halls of residence, military barrack, or prison
Measles is a serious viral disease that can make people very sick. It can spread very easily among people who have not had the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine or had measles before.
You are considered immune to measles if you: • Were born before 1 Jan 1969 • Have had measles before • Have had two MMR vaccinations, and the last dose was over a month ago. • Babies under 15 months are considered immune if they have had one MMR dose after 12 months of age, given at least a month ago • Have had a blood test showing you are immune
If you have measles symptoms, such as a fever and a rash, you should seek medical advice urgently. Call your doctor or ring Healthline for free anytime on 0800 611 116.
Please do not visit a medical centre or hospital without calling first as you may risk passing on the virus to others.
Bexsero (meningococcal group B) is funded on the National Immunisation Schedule, and catchup programmes are available for all under 5-year-olds, adolescents, and young adults.
• catch up for 13 months to 59 monthsavailable until 31 August 2025 – for those tamariki who were aged under 5 years on 1 March 2023, but have since turned 5 years of age, are eligible for the catch-up programme.
* Individuals who are aged 13 – 25 years who are already in close-living, such as boarding school hostels and university halls of residence, only have until 28/2/24 to receive funded Bexsero as part of the catch-up program
Covid Bivalent (Original/Omicron) boosters – Eligibility from 1 May 2023 – available from 6 months after your last COVID-19 vaccine dose or 6 months after having COVID-19 infection.
An additional COVID-19 booster is available for:
· people aged 30 and over
· people at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 aged 16 to 29
· pregnant people aged 16 to 29 years
· severely immunocompromised young people aged 12 to 15
The 2023 flu vaccine is free for:
tamariki aged 6 months to 12 years old
pregnant people
Māori and Pacific people aged 55 years and older
everyone aged 65 years and older
anyone with underlying health conditions including heart disease, cancer, diabetes and serious asthma
anyone with mental illness such as schizophrenia or those currently accessing mental health services.
The flu vaccine can be given at the same time or immediately before or after the COVID-19 vaccine. If given at the same time, you will receive the vaccines at separate places on your arms and with different syringes.
If you have had COVID and are symptom-free and have completed at least 7-days of self-isolation, you can have the flu vaccine.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can be life threatening. Measles is caused by a virus and is easily preventable with immunisation.
MMR vaccine is available free in New Zealand to people born on/after 1 January 1969.
Two documented doses of the MMR vaccine is 99% effective in preventing measles.
If you have only had one dose, and fit the criteria date, please make a Nurse appointment to have the 2nd.
Vaccination is particularly important if you are planning to travel overseas – to protect yourself and to help prevent outbreaks in New Zealand.
Meningococcal B vaccine ‘Bexsero’, funded from 1 March 2023 protects against meningococcal B disease in children up to 12 months of age.
It is administered as part of the childhood immunisation programme. It will also be funded for people aged 13 to 25 years who are entering into or in their first year of specified close-living situations. Catch-up programmes will also be funded for these groups.
We have been obliged to move our patient portal to Manage My Health, as Connectmed (our previous portal) have sold to the MMH team.
As many are aware there have been some unforeseen issues with the transition. We are working with the MMH team to solve these, thank you for your patience.
In the future MMH, will add in more features and ease of communication, as well as the current online bookings, repeat prescription requests and access to test results via your computer or mobile phone.
We have not been able to activate script payments by debit card, yet but this is being sorted.
At this stage, the booking part does not align with our way of managing booking templates – when you do book – if you scroll down to ‘Other’ for reason for booking, you can write ‘phone’ or ‘video’. We are working with MMH to get this issue resolved. If you are having trouble enrolling, you can ask reception and they will send a message through to MMH.
Funded FLU vaccines available from Monday 3/4/23 – book a Nurse appointment for this (unless seeing your GP for an appointment, can be given same time).
Covid vaccine, and Covid boosters (bivalent) available for adults (12 years+) from1/03/23 – book a Nurse appointment NOTE must be 6 months after the last Covid booster, and 6 months after having had Covid19( see more below).
Bexseromeningococcal vaccine will be part of the routine National Immunisation Schedule at the 3 months and 5 months immunisation events (primary doses) followed by a (booster dose) at the 12 months event.
All children who are aged 5 years or younger on 1 March 2023, will also be eligible for funded Bexsero vaccine as part of a catch-up programme.
It will also be funded for people aged 13 to 25 years who are entering into or in their first year of specified close-living situations.
Covid vac. more info……
This is part of the Government’s plan to keep Kiwis safe and take pressure off our health system.
The new bivalent vaccine will replace the existing Pfizer booster and is considered likely to be more effective against Omicron subvariants. Bivalent vaccines work by combining 2 strains of a virus, which prompts the body to create antibodies against both strains, providing a greater level of protection.
People at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 will also be able to receive an additional booster, regardless of how many doses they have previously had.
As well as broadening the criteria from April, from 1 March, anyone currently eligible for a COVID-19 booster will be able to get the new bivalent vaccine.
Pfizer Covid19 vaccines will be available at MGP again from next Wednesday 14/12/22 after a short break. If you have been vaccine hesitant, or nervous and would like to lie down for the vaccination, we can accommodate your needs in the privacy of our clinical treatment room. Check if you are due to have your second booster, especially if you have put it off for 3 months due to having Covid, to ensure you are up-to-date in this season of mingling and jingling with the current upsurge in cases. Please phone to make a Nurse appointment for your Covid19 vaccination, or to check whether you are due a booster
■ ORDER YOUR REPEAT SCRIPTS ■ SAVE YOUR FAMILY DOCTOR INITIATIVE ■ MANAGE MY HEALTH PORTAL
…. Order your repeats scripts before Christmas – please do it as soon as possible. Support Primary care with the ‘Save Your Family Doctor’ initiative. A new portal ‘Manage My Health’ is coming soon.
■ ORDER YOUR REPEAT SCRIPTS Now that December has arrived, it really does feel like the festive season is upon us all. We know that this is a busy time of year for everyone with end of school activities, functions and deadlines to meet. However, with the holidays fast approaching, we suggest that you think ahead and check that you have enough prescription medication to see you through. Please order any repeat prescriptions as soon as possible, via the patient portal or by phoning in, to avoid pre-Christmas congestion. If it’s time for your next check-up, or it will be due during the holidays, please think about booking for this soon as appointment slots before Christmas are filling up fast!
Appointments
As with many businesses this year, it has had its challenges and frustrations. We are sure you have all seen recent media coverage of the significant issues facing the health system. This is of course affecting general practice as much as other sectors with workforce shortages, underfunding and increasing workloads. As a result, people are waiting longer to see their family doctor as well, as increased times to be seen in outpatient clinics and even many private specialist are booked out until April 2023. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any support coming our way anytime soon and this is putting essential family doctor services at risk. These things are out of our control so please be patient, we are trying our hardest to deliver the best service we can within the current constraints. Our GP Owner’s organisation GenPro has launched a campaign called Save Your Family Doctor to highlight the threat to essential frontline services and the impact it is having on our patients. If you would like to add your support and help to send the Government a strong message please sign the petition
We will soon be moving our patient portal to Manage My Health. This will add in more features and ease of communication including online bookings, repeat prescription requests and access to test results via your computer or mobile phone. We will be sending more information to our patients on the transition to this before the end of the year.
OTHER NEWS
Old Notes
We are having a bit of a spring clean and, as part of this, we are sorting out old paper notes which are no longer required. Clinical records have been computerised for many years now so these old files are no longer relevant. You may be contacted soon and asked if you would like to collect your old hard copy notes.
Staff
Recently we welcomed Rachel who joins Annette and Denise as part of our practice nursing team. Our lovely senior nurse Annette has now been with us for 10 years and we would like to acknowledge what a wonderful team leader she is and we are very fortunate to have her running such a high calibre team.
However, we are sad to be losing our receptionist Amanda as she is returning to Australia to be closer to family. Amanda has been with us for three years and has been invaluable over a very challenging time. We send our very best wishes and we will all certainly miss her. Although Emily and Rachel have joined Denise (yes, we now have two Rachels and Denises) on reception, we have not yet been able to find a replacement for Amanda, so please be patient and understanding when contacting the practice as our reception team will be under a bit of pressure.
Meadowbank General Practice Holiday Opening Hours:
With another exhausting year behind us our practice team will be taking a break over the Christmas New Year period.
The Practice will close from Friday 23th December 2022 @ 12pm
Normal business hours will resume on Monday 9thth January 2023 8.30am – 5.00pm
Please note that some of our doctors and nurses will still be on leave after this date.
If you are an enrolled patient with this practice and need healthcare when we are closed, please call our usual practice phone number (09) 521 5128 to speak to a registered nurse.
If you need a virtual consultation, we recommend CareHQ. CareHQ provides urgent and booked appointments with a real GP from 7am-7pm, 7 days per week. For more information, or to book, visit www.carehq.co.nz
If you have a medical emergency, please dial 111.
The closest accident and medical centre (A&M) to this practice is: White Cross Urgent Care, 110 Lunn Ave, Mt Wellington
