• Pregnancy vaccinations
• Childhood immunisation programme
• 45 year old vaccinations
• 65 year old vaccinations
• Adult flu vaccine
• Child flu vaccine
• Diphtheria / Tetanus / Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine
• Measles / Mumps / Rubella (MMR) vaccine
• Meningococcal vaccine
• Shingles vaccine
• Travel vaccinations
• Catch-up missed vaccinations

Immunisation is the safest and most effective way to provide protection for you and your tamariki’s health. For more information view the NZ immunisation schedule.

Your GP's surgery is far more than a place to go when you are feeling unwell and needing a quick cure. The doctor who sees you has gone through an extensive medical training to equip her or him to help children and adults of all ages with a range of physical and emotional difficulties. GPs are at the centre of the healthcare hub and will be aware of services and expertise that are available locally and further-a-field. GPs are also aware of the link that stress and unhappy life events have on physical health so know when to suggest a talking therapy rather than medication.

Occupational safety and health clinics are held on site at a number of our local organisations.

P.R.I.M.E. services are an emergency response our service offers alongside the St Johns Ambulance service and involves a mobile response, in parallel to that of the ambulance. This brings medical or nursing skills of specifically trained rural practitioners to high priority emergency calls.

Minor surgery is commonly provided in primary care practices, providing fast, competent removal and biopsies of skin lesions. Other services include cosmetic work such as removal of benign moles and skin tags. Ingrown toenail surgery is also commonly provided. 
These conditions do not need to be referred to a hospital, perhaps saving you a long wait or a cancelled appointment when a more serious case takes priority. 
If your doctor is unable to provide the procedure you need, he/she may know a neighbouring GP who does. Otherwise, the PHO will have a list of GPs trained in particular operations.

Minor surgery in a theatre room for minor local surgery procedures completed by GPs at Wellsford Medical Centre and at Coast to Coast Warkworth. 

Assessment by a doctor needs to be completed prior to booking the surgery. There is a deposit on booking this of 50% of the cost paid at the time.

Please book this for extended appointments of 30 minutes or  more  as directed by the referring GP.

Small surgery procedures provided by Maungaturoto Clinic, Mangawhai Clinic and Snells Beach, Matakana and Paparoa Clinic.

Primary care practices offer a range of services and are able to deal with most minor accident care. If they are not able to deal with an injury they will refer on to the appropriate service.

ACC acute care provided by Wellsford, Maungaturoto, Mangawhai and Snells Beach and Paparoa clinics. 

X-ray facility - Wellsford Medical Centre

Open booking hours: Monday - Friday: 8:30 am – 4:15 pm

Acute extremity x-rays available Monday - Friday: 5 pm - 8 pm

Weekends & public holiday’s acute extremity only 24/7

Each GP surgery or primary care practice will have its own procedure for repeat prescribing but the following rules are common to most, if not all. Patients who are well-known to the practice who have a stable condition like asthma, hypertension or diabetes could be allowed to get a repeat prescription for up to six months. Repeat prescriptions are never given to patients who are not known to the practice and there is probably a blanket ban on repeats for narcotics and other drugs that could be misused as doctors are expected to monitor these drugs carefully.

All requests for Repeat Prescriptions are now booked with either a Prescribing Doctor, Nurse Practitioner, Clinical Pharmacist and or Nurse Prescriber.  Please make an appointment to complete this. 
We DO NOT complete prescription requests if we are not your usual doctor or practice as we do not have your medical records . 

This only applies to REGULAR MEDICATIONS  and the guide is they will be completed within a  consultation with your GP via telephone, in person or via Video. The service will depend on your health condition and you may be required to attend a face to face consultation.  Scripts may not be  completed without this following any hospitalisations with changes that need to be monitored . We do not complete or redo scripts on behalf of another health provider.  The cost of these is $19.50. 

Please request your script via your patient portal via MMH App (Manage MY Health). Notify us of the pharmacy you wish to pick this up from.  If you are not registered for this please call in to the centre and enrol. This portal is our preferred communication channel and saves phone calls and  your request is saved within your medical records. This is available the same as online banking 24 hours day and may save time. The cost of these is $15.00. 

E Scripts (electronic) from May 2020 are now the normal mechanism and will be sent via the internet  to the pharmacy of your choice, or the local pharmacy. Once this has been completed this cannot be changed, or a new E script will need to be requested and charged. 

Any scripts requested will incur a fee equal to your usual medical consultation fee, and if not collected or required are still considered a completed service. All unpaid fees may then incur an additional administration fee of $10.00.

For any outstanding balances a prescription may be refused (prescriptions are not an urgent service).  Payment is expected to be completed within 10 days of the request. An invoice will be sent via your email address.

Sometimes your doctor needs to take a sample of blood or urine either to discover what is wrong with you or to measure something in your blood so that the right medication is given to you. These tests could be anything from blood sugar to a full blood count or a sample of tissue to test for cancer.

While urine can generally be tested in the surgery, blood and other specimens are usually sent away for testing at a laboratory. Most results come back within 48 hours unless a very rare test is needed which has to go to a specialist lab further away when it might take a little longer.

Medical laboratory collection is provided at our northern clinics for our enrolled patients. For non enrolled and any specialist requests there is a charge of $10.00  for tests completed.  As this is a courtesy service, a Koha to support this would be well appreciated.

Wellsford Medical Centre: Monday - Friday: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm (Free)

Emergency and acute blood tests or "Point of contact" testing for some investigations completed at Wellsford Medical Centre only.

Mangawhai:  Tuesday & Thursday: 8:30 am – 12.00 midday 

Maungaturoto: Monday to Friday: 8:30 am –  12.00 midday 

Paparoa: Tuesday & Thursday:  do not complete blood tests 

Snells Beach: We recommend Labtest at Warkworth, who are contracted to provide this service

Matakana: Daily: We recommend Labtest at Warkworth who are contracted to provide this service

Courier timetables restrict tests to these times to go back to Labtests in Auckland.

Liquid nitrogen is a fast, effective treatment provided in many practices to treat viral warts, sun damaged skin, skin tags and many benign cosmetic lesions. It comes in a container with a nozzle and is usually applied by swab or spray. Often one treatment is all that is needed but sometimes it may need repeating after two weeks.
Because it cannot be stored for too long, you will often find that your GP will treat a number of patients one after the other. 

For more information click here.

The cost of each visit is the liquid nitrogen fee ( $15.00 per scoop )  plus the administration or nursing fee for the subsequent visits as prescribed by the clinician.

• Implant (Jadelle) inserts
• IUD inserts
• Free or subsidised contraception services (enquire for eligibility and details)
• Implant (Jadelle) removal
• IUD removals

LARC methods are very effective at preventing unplanned pregnancy and are “fit and forget” forms of contraception – you don’t need to remember them every day or every month. LARC methods:

• Intrauterine Contraceptive Devices (IUCD or IUD) are inserted through the cervix into a woman’s uterus. IUCDs may be either hormonal (Mirena^® or Jaydess^{® )} or non-hormonal (copper IUCD).
• Jadelle^® is a hormone-releasing implant that is inserted just under the skin of the upper arm.

Depending on the type of device, it will need to be changed after between three and ten years.

Read more about LARC methods here

MIRENA: This service is provided by doctors . 

Please request this when booking the appointment.

All women and people with a cervix aged 25 – 69 who have ever had intimate skin-to-skin contact or been sexually active should have regular cervical screening. This includes women who have been immunised against HPV. Together, regular screening and HPV immunisation provide the best protection against cervical cancer.

There are now more options for how you have cervical screening done:

• a simple vaginal swab test for HPV, either done yourself or with help from a healthcare professional
• a cervical sample taken by a healthcare professional (used to be known as a smear test).

Talk with your healthcare provider to decide which option is best for you.

If HPV is found, you may need to have a follow-up test or be referred directly for colposcopy.

If you’ve not yet had HPV testing, you should be screened 3 years after your last test (or 1 year if immune deficient). Once you have had an HPV test, and providing HPV is not found, your next screening will be in 5 years (or 3 years if immune deficient).

For more information: Cervical screening | Time to Screen - National Screening Unit

Please  advsise the Receptionist of your  request for this service when booking your appoitment .
Most of our doctors provide this service at all clinics , but please check . A Chaperone service is available to all women.

We also have nurse trained smear takers,  , who you can book in with also.

HPV Swabs , self swabbing is available from 23rd September 2023 .Your doctor or nurse will advise if you can complete this instead of a Cervical swab and the process  is quick and simple  and  may be funded for you with eligibility criteria set by Te Whatu Ora.

An ECG is a recording of your heart's electrical activity. Electrode patches are attached to your skin to measure the electrical impulses given off by your heart. The result is a trace that can be read by a doctor. It can give information of previous heart attacks or problems with the heart rhythm.

ECGs are available at all clinics and cost $45.00

Spirometry is a tool that measures how effectively your lungs are working. It is able to show how much air lungs are able to hold (their volume) and how much air can be breathed in and out (inhaled and exhaled) which is called flow. This tool is used to assess damage caused by conditions like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – a group that includes bronchitis and emphysema), pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis and asthma. Results are shown on a graph called a pneumotachograph.

For more information click on the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirometry

This is booked in and mostly available only at the Wellsford Medical Centre by appointment with nursing staff.

Another service offered to you at your GP surgery (primary care practice) is advice and immunisation before you go to another country. While you are likely to have the immunisations needed to live in New Zealand, there may be other injections you need to protect yourself before going for example to Africa or South America. In some places you will need protection from rabies or malaria. Yellow fever vaccinations are only available at approved centres; please click here to view the centres in New Zealand. Your doctor will be able to tell you what diseases you will need to be protected from in any named country and advise you on other medical matters. 

This is booked in and mostly available only at the Wellsford Medical Centre by appointment with nursing staff. Travel Vaccinations:

Advice is provided at all of our clinics and can be accessed via travel websites.

Stock is held centrally at Wellsford and most available immediately. This is due to storage  and ensuring they are kept at the required coldness with generator back up power supply. 

A doctor's appointment will need to be made prior to having these prescribed and then they will be administered by our trained vaccinator nursing staff. A wait time of 20 minutes is required after the vaccination.

Usual Immunisation Schedule vaccines can be completed at all clinics, provided they are ordered and paid for prior to delivery as they are not able to be returned under our cold chain process to ensure they are safe and reliable.

Covid 19 Boosters are available at 72 School Road Wellsford and subject to limited days. Please check availability via the BOOK MY VACCINE WEBSITE and book your vaccine, both to check we are open, and if we cannot open will call you and advise. Please do not call the practices for opening days  as these may change from day to day.

Waipu Medical Centre also has Covid vaccination dates, usually Wednesday but also subject to change. Please book on line or call the Waipu practice to book a time. 

All New Zealand children are entitled to 11 free health checks from birth to three years. The checks aim to ensure that children are growing and developing as well as possible. Included in the checks are clinical assessment, health education and family/whānau support.

Baby checks are at birth and then at 24 hours, five days and around 2-4 weeks. Babies are weighed and measured to ensure that they are developing correctly. These sessions provide a great opportunity for parents to ask questions from an expert and have any problem addressed; difficulties with breastfeeding or sleep for example. They can also be used to discuss immunisations and vaccinations. These checks will be carried out by your lead maternity carer (LMC).

Between the ages of 4-6 weeks and three years, there are seven core health checks available, typically these are around 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks, 3-4 months, 5-7 months, 9-12 months, 15-18 months and 2-3 years. These checks may be carried out by a Well Child Provider of your choice e.g. Plunket, Māori health provider, community nurse, a general practice team (doctor and practice nurse). Your LMC will be able to give you a list of Well Child Providers in your area.

More information about Well Child services is available on the Ministry of Health website.
 

A patient portal is a secure online tool provided by GP practices that can allow convenient access to your health information as well as interaction with the practice e.g. booking appointments and requesting repeat prescriptions.

We offer repeat prescriptions electronically via the patient portal  MANAGE MY HEALTH. Ask the reception staff to enrol you - this is free enrolment.  You can access your medical records and your laboratory results, saving you time ringing to check.

• Telehealth consultations for enrolled patients only
• In person consultation preferred, but virtual consultation provided as required
• Phone consultations
• Video consultations

A virtual consultation is a way of having an appointment with your healthcare provider, but not in person. This is usually done via a video app or a phone call. For more detailed information about telehealth consultations, please see the guide from Healthify.