It has been my pleasure to serve my patients for the past 27 years as your family doctor. I have had the privilege of meeting a great many people and developing friendships with lots of patients. But, now at the age of 67, it is time for me to retire.

Over the past three decades, I have watched many families in the area grow and have shared heartache and joy with hundreds of patients. I will take the memories of all that with me into my retirement. I will be retiring with many mixed emotions. There is no doubt that I shall miss many aspects of day-to-day clinical practice but the time has come to move on.

Judith and I will be moving up to Warkworth to start the next phase of our own lives.

I leave the practice in excellent hands. Many of you already know the doctors here and I am pleased to inform you that they are taking on a new Doctor – Dr Doug Winter.
Doug was educated at Burnside High School Christchurch, Canterbury University and Otago Medical School. He has been practicing medicine in Auckland for the last 2 ½ years.

With many, many thanks to all of you who have been my patients.

Dr Jonathan E M Fox
MB BS MRCS LRCP MRCGP FRNZCGP [Dist] Hon FRACGP CMInstD

Flu vaccines are finally here for children aged 6 month to 35 month (inclusive).

Phone and book an appointment with the nurses for this age group.

No Gardasil vaccinations at MGP until September – except for people with immune condition ‘ criteria’ listed below.

Immunisation Advisory Centre Notes-
9 (HPV9) supply constraint PHARMAC has advised that supply of Gardasil 9 will be limited until September 2018 due to global supply issues. Distribution of the remaining New Zealand stock will be limited to school-based immunisation programmes and practices with patients who meet the “special groups” eligibility criteria:

» Individuals aged 9–26 years inclusively post-solid organ transplantation; post-haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; post-chemotherapy or who are HIV-positive.

Practices with patients who need to complete their final (second or third) vaccination in accordance with the recommended vaccination administration period should delay these doses until September where possible.

Vaccinators should not start new patients on Gardasil9 until the new supply is confirmed in September 2018, unless they are high-risk as noted above. Vaccinators who have patients currently aged 26 years can delay their first dose of the vaccine due to the shortage and submit a manual claim for the administration of their vaccine. The final date for such manual claims will be advised once normal vaccine supply has resumed.

Starting Monday 9th April, walk in Flu clinics are available from 11.30 – 12 noon Monday – Friday (only flu vax)
Flu vax cost $40 (if not government funded)
Influvac Tetra contains the following four influenza strains recommended for the 2018 influenza season: Read More

Slight delay in 2018 funded influenza vaccines – early and mid-April

Vaccine supply
This year’s funded influenza vaccines contain two different vaccine strains from the 2017 vaccine. This change has resulted in an unavoidable delay in the vaccines’ release:

• Influvac Tetra vaccine will be available from early April (for adults and children aged 3 years and over)
• Fluarix Tetra vaccine will be available from mid-April (for children aged 6-35 months).

The updated strains are:
• A/Singapore/INFIMH/16-0019/2016 (H3N2)-like virus
• B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus.

We will update this information when the vaccines become available

Retrieved 23/3/18 from: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/preventative-health-wellness/immunisation/influenza

Link to Whooping Cough Outbreak

Babies aged under one year are particularly vulnerable to whooping cough, but are at greatest risk of severe disease in the first few months of life.

The free maternal immunisation programme provides the best protection for mothers and newborn babies. When pregnant women are immunised, they pass their immunity on to their baby, protecting them for their first few months of life, until baby is fully immunised. The protection the baby gets from their mother is temporary so it is very important to start baby’s immunisations on time at 6 weeks.

• Receiving the free whooping cough booster during pregnancy is the best way to reduce the risk of a newborn being hospitalised from whooping cough. Nine out of ten babies will be protected in this way.
• On-time immunisation of babies at 6 weeks, 3 months and 5 months is the next important way of reducing the risk to our young children.

Almost everyone is at risk of shingles because they are likely to have been exposed to chickenpox, even if they have no history of clinical chickenpox, or have had a chickenpox vaccine. Following chickenpox infection the virus lies dormant in the nerves near the spine and may re-emerge many years later as shingles. Shingles most commonly affects older adults or people of any age with a weakened immune system.

From 1 April 2018, one dose of Zostavax will be funded for adults aged 65 years. A ‘catch-up’ programme will be available for the first two years, for people aged from 66–80 years inclusively. Funded vaccine doses will only be available through general practice.

Immunity may wane earlier with elderly, so vaccinating younger patients earlier and delaying older groups until April is a reasonable strategy and aligns with the introduction of the zoster vaccine.

Our practice will be open through the Christmas/New Year period, but closed on the Public Holidays – Monday 25th/Tuesday 26th December and Monday 1st/Tuesday 2nd January. We will have reduced staff and shortened hours through January as doctors, nurses and staff have breaks – open from 9am. Appointments will be by phone only through this time (no online appointments).

Remember that our 24/7 auto-attendant service will answer all calls during closure as usual.

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

There will be limited supply of Gardasil9 (HPV) vaccine until late November 2017. The shortage is due to demand significantly exceeding the forecast uptake for the vaccine during 2017, coupled with a delay to the scheduled arrival of new stock into New Zealand. Until the release of new stock in late November, distribution of the remaining stock will be limited to school based programme vaccinators.

Message from Propharma.