Urgent problems
Those that are severe enough to require hospitalisation are rare. They require referral by your General Practitioner (GP) to the consultant or registrar who will decide the most appropriate management.
Non-urgent problems
These are actioned by the GP writing a letter to the Endocrinology Department of your locality, requesting an appointment.
When you come to the Department, you will be assessed by either a specialist or trainee registrar or in some cases, with your consent, by a senior student doctor or trainee intern, supervised by a senior doctor.
New clinic appointments last for 40 minutes. The process involves taking a history of your presenting condition, a general history and review of medications, examination and appropriate tests.
New patient clinics
- General endocrine conditions are seen on Mondays.
- Reproductive endocrine conditions on Tuesday mornings.
- Thyroid conditions on Wednesday mornings.
- Metabolic bone disorders on Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings.
- Outpatient radioiodine treatment is provided in the Radiation Oncology Department at Auckland Hospital on Thursday afternoons.
Additional follow-up clinics are held on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. Appointments are 20-30 minutes.
Endocrine Nurse Specialists
Arrange special testing in the Outpatient Unit here at Greenlane for both paediatric and adult patients throughout the Auckland region. In general these are tests of specific endocrine organs and may be supplemented by targeted endocrine treatments.
The Endocrinology nurses can administer zoledronic acid (intravenous bisphosphonate) with a referral from a GP or specialist that documents a normal kidney function (eGFR >35ml/min) in the last 3 months and confirmation that they have provided you with a prescription.
Waiting times for nurse, clinic, procedures or treatments is up to 2 weeks but can be arranged within 24 hours. Most of these clinics are situated at Greenlane Clinical Centre.
Scheduling for Bone Density Scans
These are performed at Greenlane Clinical Centre following direct referral from your GP or specialist. Sometimes you will be asked to have a bone density scan before your visit to the bone clinic.
Who can be referred?
Those persons who live in the Waitematā or Counties Manukau Districts are usually referred to their local DHB.
Individuals with complex endocrine disorders in the judgement of their local endocrinologist, may be on-referred to the Greenlane Clinical Centre service.
Prioritising referrals
- The average waiting time before an appointment at a clinic ranges from 2 weeks to 4 months, depending on urgency.
- You may be asked to undergo some tests or fill in a questionnaire before seeing the doctor in the clinic to help with the diagnosis.
- You will see either a specialist or a registrar (a doctor training to become a specialist who works under the supervision of a specialist) or a supervised senior student doctor. There are also specialist nurses who may be involved with your appointment and ongoing treatment.
- You may have ongoing follow-up in the clinic or have your treatment carried out by your GP with written advice from the specialist. This is done by senior medical staff who review the referral notes from your doctor.
Waiting Times
The waiting time for new patient appointments is 2-12 weeks. If urgent, then consultation can be arranged sooner by interaction with your doctor. On occasions, less urgent problems may take up to 4 months.
Contacting the Department
If possible please give your hospital number which enables your enquiry to be met accurately. At each visit to the clinic we will ask you to verify phone and email contact details.
Prescriptions
In general, we expect regular maintenance prescriptions to be provided by your GP. There are two good reasons for this:
First, your GP and pharmacist have the most reliable and up to date listing of your exact drug list.
Second, as part of Government policy, prescriptions from your GP may be cheaper from your GP than from a hospital consultant.
On occasions however, a new or changed medication is prescribed directly from the clinic or is recommended to your GP by letter after your visit.
Correspondence
Following your visit to the hospital with a first or follow-up visit, a letter is sent to your GP and/or your referring doctor, summarising the result of the visit. Letter content depends on the interpretation of test results and therefore may take 2 to 4 weeks to reach your GP.
