Under 12 vaccines will also be rolling out very soon but we do not have a clear timeframe for when we will have these available at MGP- we will update this site when we know .Please check this site for updates as our reception phones are getting inundated.
These are becoming available from 4 months but this will be a rollout in early part of 2022 in the short term it is impacted by our limited onsite vaccine supply at MBGP over the main holiday period.
Thankyou for your patience in rapidly changing times.
Notes from Immunisation Advisory Centre:-
As you know, the recommended interval from second vaccination to the booster dose has reduced from at least 6 months to 4 months or more, for people 18yrs+
The recommended start date for giving boosters at 4 months up to 6 months is 5 January 2022
The booking system is being updated and can be used for booster appointments at 4 – 6 months from 17 January 2022
If a person does want to get their booster over the holiday period they are advised to check with the local vaccination provider to ensure they have appointments and supply available.
Isn’t it great to be able to go out and reconnect with family and friends over a coffee or a meal? Haircuts are looking amazing too!
Like all healthcare facilities, we continue to do our best to keep services available with appropriate safety processes in place. Thank you for your patience as we manage appointments and the waiting room to keep our community safe. According to guidelines, we are still offering telehealth consultations, but face-to-face care is important too, especially for our more senior population!
Our Covid-safe protocols have become part of the new norm and we will be continuing with these over the coming weeks and probably months. Triage and screening questions will remain an important part of managing bookings so please be patient with our reception team, they are required to go through these with all bookings. We are still providing telehealth (phone or video) consultations whenever possible in accordance with public health guidance. However, we are very pleased to offer onsite appointments for much needed check-ups such as blood pressure and heart checks, skin checks, smears and breast exams. Other matters may need doctor approval or a telehealth consultation first. We haven’t seen some of you for quite some time now so over the coming months we may be asking you to come in for a check-up when your next prescription is due. Telehealth appointments can be booked on-line but you still must phone for any onsite appointments.
Please continue to book your routine vaccinations. Childhood vaccination remains a priority and administering these will continue as usual. It’s also a good time to start planning ahead to next year. The meningococcal vaccine Menactra is recommended and funded for young people aged 13 to 25 years who are entering their 1st year of living in close quarters (University halls of residence, boarding schools).
We are unable to see anyone onsite who has respiratory symptoms, no matter how mild and regardless of vaccination status, unless this is deemed necessary by your doctor. In such cases this will be done in a separate area to keep everyone safe. This will continue into the foreseeable future.
Repeat Prescriptions
With the holiday season fast approaching we suggest that you 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.
COVID 19 Vaccinations
We are thrilled to say that well over 90% of our practice population are now fully vaccinated.
For primary or booster doses please go to book BookMyVaccine.co.nz to find a local vaccination clinic. For enrolled patients to book with us use the Access Code enrolled patients will have been sent in e-mailed version of this newsletter or phone 095215128 to make a time for this.
Booster doses
Booster doses are now available to anyone over the age of 18 years who has had two primary doses of a COVID 19 vaccine and 6 months has passed since your second vaccine.
Third primary dose
Some people who are immunocompromised due to a health condition or have been on immunosuppressant medication at the time of their two primary doses may need a third primary dose of the COVID 19 vaccination. This is because their immune system may not be strong enough to respond adequately to the vaccine and it might need another little nudge. This is different from the booster dose and these people will still need a booster 6 months after their third primary dose. We have tried to contact those who are eligible for a third dose. However, if you feel you might be eligible, please contact us and we can discuss this with you. A consultation for this is funded by your DHB.
AstraZeneca vaccine
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is now available for those aged 18 and older who cannot receive the Pfizer vaccine, and for people who would like a different option. People aged 18 years and older can book an appointment to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at Book My Vaccine, which will show a list of vaccination centres where AstraZeneca can be given. AstraZeneca is only available at selected vaccination clinics. AstraZeneca vaccination after the person has had a Pfizer vaccine (mixed schedule) may require a prescription.
COVID 19 Vaccine for children aged 5-11 years
The Pfizer vaccine for this age group is still going through the process to be approved by Medsafe and Cabinet. Depending on this and the arrival of stocks, we have been informed that vaccination rollout might start sometime in late January. The child doses of the Pfizer vaccine are smaller than the ones used for people over age 12 – a child dose is one third of the adult dose.
Vaccine Passes
With the recent change to the traffic light system Vaccine Passes will become part of our daily lives.
Help with accessing your My Vaccine Pass: We are now able to print your pass or email it to you if you are having difficulty doing this yourself. Pharmacies are also able to provide this service for you.
Help with other matters: If you need help with other matters related to My Covid Record or if you have a query about your COVID-19 records, such as correcting the name on your pass, contact the Ministry of Health team, 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Grace period for expired driver licences extended into 2022
The Transport Minister has announced that all New Zealand driver licences and licence endorsements that expired on or after 21 July 2021 will now be valid until 31 May 2022. We have a limited number of appointments for Drivers Licence Medicals, but don’t panic if you aren’t able to get in before Christmas, you’ll still be able to join the queues out of Auckland once the boundary opens.
This does not apply to the extension to the expiry date of Warrants of Fitness (WoFs), Certificates of Fitness (CoFs) and vehicle licences (‘regos’). Any of these that expired on or after 21 July 2021, will no longer be valid and you will need to renew these in the usual way.
Meadowbank General Practice Holiday Opening Hours:
With all this going on it’s been another exhausting year for our practice team so we will be taking a break over the Christmas New Year period
The Practice will close from Friday 24th December 2021 @ 2pm
A reduced service by a duty doctor will be available 5th – 7th January 2022 9am-3:00pm
Normal business hours will resume on Monday 10th January 2022 8.30am – 5.00pm
Please note that some of our doctors and nurses will still be on leave at 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
We wish you a happy, safe and restful holiday season. Take care on the roads.
Apologies internet and connected phoneswere down this morning and fixed early afternoon. Unfortunately this means the phones didn’t answer or relay to afterhours team on this occasion either. Remember you can order scripts from connectmed . Our reception team arre under extra pressure now this afternoon. Thankyou for being patient. . Thankyou for being patient -frustrating for everyone.
With the start of the Covid Protection Framework, we will continue to prioritise patient safety in our practice. We have developed protocols over the past 18 months which have necessarily changed the way we work, but which we are confident follow guidelines and limit risks of infection.
We are still providing virtual (phone or video) consultations whenever possible in accordance with public health guidance, however there are obvious limitations for this, and we are very pleased to also offer onsite appointments for much needed check-ups such as blood pressure and heart checks, skin checks, smears and breast exams. Nursing appointments for vaccinations and other procedures continue as previously.
Virtual appointments can be booked on-line but please call reception for any onsite appointments.
We are delighted to say that we are now able to offer COVID 19 vaccinations to our patients aged 12 years and over. This will include boosters form 29th November – The booster must be at least 6 months after the 2nd vaccine – the online booking system opens from 26th, For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to make a booking, or prefer to come to your regular GP Clinic to have your vaccination. If you have received our message on 21 September with the Access code please book online via Book My Vaccine https://bookmyvaccine.covid19.health.nz/ .
MGP encourages our practice population to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to protect yourself, your whānau and your wider community against COVID-19. High vaccination rates protect our whole community, including those who can’t be vaccinated themselves.
Healthnavigator has a full summary and links on multiple issues regarding the Covid vaccine, including the two most frequent concerns listed below… Covid-19 vaccines: Healthnavigator Overview
There has been a lot of media attention about the recent meningococcal outbreaks in New Zealand. Meningococcal disease is a serious bacterial infection that causes meningitis (swelling of the brain membranes) and septicaemia (blood poisoning). It can be quite difficult to diagnose as the initial symptoms appear similar to a bad cold of flu. It can develop quickly and immediate medical attention and treatment with antibiotics is very important.
There are vaccines available to protect against most of the different serogroups (types) of bacteria that cause Meningococcal disease. The types that cause most disease are A. B, C, W, and Y. Unfortunately, no single vaccine offers protection against all of these types but there are vaccines available that cover specific types.
The available vaccines are:
Nimenrix and Menactra protects against Meningococcal A, C, W and Y.
Bexsero protects against 4 strains of Meningococcal Group B. ( 2 vaccines 4 weeks apart)
It takes at least 2 weeks for the vaccines to work after vaccination.
Until now, these vaccines have not been funded but on December 1st 2019, PHARMAC began funding ONE dose of the Menactra vaccine for young people aged 13 to 25 years, who are living in close quarters (University halls of residence, boarding schools)
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us on 09 521 5128
For more information about Meningococcal disease, please visit:
We will continue working at Level 4, offering phone and video consults. We will have slightly shortened days from our usual hours . Our Doctors and Nurses will make appropriate arrangements with you, if an in-person assessment or a procedure is necessary.
The virtual bookings can still be arranged via the web portal.
As recommended by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and the Ministry of Health, we ask screening questions for respiratory and other viral symptoms, such as fever and diarrhoea, before making your appointment. The guidelines are that those with viral symptoms must not be in waiting rooms with others, to limit the spread of infection, both of COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. Most people are now unable to attend work, school or social gatherings, if they are unwell… and it affects our workforce too! This is also why we are still asking all adults to wear a mask to their appointments – we know it can be annoying but better safe than sorry!
We understand the perceived risk of COVID-19 in the community is low at present and this restriction may be frustrating for our patients. If you have respiratory or viral symptoms you will INITIALLY be offered a phone or video consultation. We are very experienced in assessing via video or phone and we can usually make a treatment plan which would not be altered by an examination in cases of mild to moderate illness.
Please be assured that we will arrange to see you within a few hours, either in the practice or your car, if we think you need an examination.
The COVID testing guidelines from the Ministry of Health remain the same, that anyone with COVID symptoms should be tested. Without maintaining steady testing of symptomatic people in the community, we cannot know if we have the virus circulating. We are able to offer testing in your car at the back of the practice, depending on weather and staff availability.
