Update

12 March 2021

Kia ora koutou

Here we are again – Level One!!!

Let us hope this is for a long time……

This means from Monday 15th March 2021 Apollo Medical is resuming a ‘near normal' service to you all.

ManageMyHealth (the practice portal) is fully open to online bookings.  Apollo Medical believes in the benefit on continuity of care and the doctor-patient relationship and we encourage you to book with your regular GP if at all possible.   As yet we are unable to offer online bookings with our nurses, or for Covid swabs – you will need to ring through reception for these appointments. 

Apollo Medical continues with the many new improved services learnt through our Lockdown experience.  These include:

1.            Keeping some appointments each day for ‘telehealth' – these consults are SHORTER (10 MINUTES) AND CHEAPER and are ideal for follow up appointments that do not require further physical examination, or for those quick consultations for single issues.  They are convenient for both patient and doctor – avoids traffic and parking issues!!!  A major plus!!

2.            Keeping some appointments each day for urgent on the day consultations – both telehealth and in person – for each GP's patients.

3.            Electronic laboratory orders, and electronic sending of prescriptions to your preferred pharmacy will continue.  This means less paper – and more importantly the patient does not need to come in to pick up forms/prescriptions – no traffic or parking hassles again!

4.            Apollo retains masks for symptomatic patients, and we insist that you wear these masks in if you have a cough, so please follow instructions of the team.

5.            Apollo will continue to ‘stream'/ separate patients with potentially infectious respiratory symptoms to an allocated area within the centre to be reviewed.  We call this ‘clinic' the AMBER clinic.  Our doctors who are permitted to consult symptomatic patients are rostered twice daily into these 2+ hour clinics.  PLEASE be honest with the screening questions our receptionists will be asking you, so that we can keep everyone SAFE!

6.            Apollo is promoting contact tracing with their QR code on arrival and hand hygiene with automated hand sanitiser dispensers at all entrances to the centre. PLEASE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK WITH HYGIENE – hands, cough etiquette etc.

In closing, Apollo would like to thank everyone for their patience and kindness to our team throughout these challenging times.  It certainly does not get any easier – but we can look forward to the Covid-19 vaccine roll out very soon.

In addition:

• INFLUENZA VACCINATION 2021 is due to commence around mid –April initially targeting our most vulnerable patients, so please watch this space!
• MMR – measles, mumps and rubella – vaccination and booster (15-30years olds) continues in earnest.

 

Kia Kaha

Lynne

Dr Lynne Coleman MNZM

Medical Director