Practice Information

Practice Hours (by appointment):

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 8.30am – 5pm

Wednesday: 8.30am – 4pm

Thursday evenings: 5-6pm for pre-booked Dr and Nurse appointments.

One Tuesday per month: 5-6pm for pre-booked Dr and Nurse appointments and Cervical Smears

Occasionally we may run a weekend clinic.  This usually happens during long holiday weekends when demand locally is high.  Please check out our Facebook page for details of these clinics, the local newspaper or signs at the entrance to the practice.

Holidays

We are closed during public holidays.

Appointments:

Please ring 07 384 7576 or 0800 7442642 (0800 PIHANGA) and select Option 1.

Every effort will be made to accommodate your preferred time. Emergencies will always be given priority and our reception staff will attempt to contact you if there is any unforeseen delay or your GP has been called away.

Longer consultation times are available, so please ask our receptionist if you require some extra time. There will be an extra cost for this. If you or a family member requires an interpreter service, we can organise this for you- please let us know when you make the appointment. If you are registered on MyIndici you can make your appointments online.

Phone Triage:

If you phone our practice seeking a same-day appointment, our GP or nurse team will triage your health need. You will be told if a GP or nurse will phone you back to triage your health need over the phone.

Walk-In Appointments:

If you arrive without an appointment seeking a routine appointment, you may be asked to schedule a routine appointment. We highly recommend booking routine appointments in advance.

If you arrive with an acute health need, we will assess the severity of your condition and either treat you or provide you with a range of options for care.

After Hours Care Arrangements:

This practice provides after hours care via a triage system. If you think you need to see a doctor after hours, phone the normal practice phone number and your call will be diverted to a triage service where you will be spoken to by a nurse who will assess your need to be seen by a doctor.

If she/he thinks you do need to be seen you will be directed to the most appropriate care.  This is likely to be in Taupo.

In case of an emergency call 111 for an ambulance or if unsure call Healthline.

Home Visits:

Home visits are available for registered patients whose condition prevents them from attending the surgery. GPs in the practice may be contacted during normal surgery hours. Your call will be put through to a nurse who will assess your need for a home visit. She will discuss this with a doctor. You will be contacted with an approximate time of the visit. Your call will always be put through to the GP or nurse in an emergency.

Test Results:

The doctor may request that you have some clinical investigations done either routinely or to assist in diagnosis. The results usually take up to 5 working days to come in. We do not routinely contact you with all your results but we will always phone you if your results are abnormal or if you need a follow up appointment.

If you have not heard from us, you can phone and request your results from one of the nurses. Please phone after 2pm in the afternoon.  If you are registered on MyIndici you can check your lab results online.

Services Available:

Checkups, family planning, cervical smears, pregnancy tests, vaccinations, minor surgery, liquid nitrogen freezing therapy, asthma and diabetes clinics, chronic care management, ACC consultations, sexual health consultations, mental health consultations, medicals and home visits if appropriate

Missed Appointments:

Please let us know if you are not going to attend your booked appointment. We may charge for missed appointments.

Unpaid accounts:

We appreciate you paying your account at the time of appointment.  If you receive a service that you do not need to attend the practice for (for example a repeat prescription or phone consultation) the price of the service will be added to your account.

We encourage all patients to set up an automatic payment to cover the cost of our medical services.  This can be from as little as $2 per week.  Please ask at reception for more information and an automatic payment form.

If you have an outstanding account at the end of the month you will be contacted by us and we will request payment.  This will be by email, text, portal message, letter or phone call – depending on which contact method you have chosen.

We reserve the right to send any outstanding account to our debt collection agency if it is left unpaid. You will incur extra cost if your account is passed onto the debt collection agency.

Prescriptions:

Please ring 07 384 7576 or 0800 7442642 (0800 PIHANGA) and select Option 2.

If you are a registered patient you are able to phone and request a repeat prescription.  The prescription will be sent directly to a pharmacy of your choice by 2pm on the following work day.  There is a charge of $11.00 for your repeat prescription.

If the doctor decides you need to be seen the prescription will not be issued without a visit. You will be contacted by one of our team to arrange an appointment.

If you are registered on MyIndici you can request your prescription through that portal.

Unfortunately we are unable to issue repeat prescriptions for casual patients.  Please contact your regular doctor.

Reminder System:

If you have an appointment booking and have signed up for text alerts, you will receive a reminder text 24hrs before you appointment is due.

Our practice is committed helping you access preventive care. We may issue you with a recall letter from time to time offering you appropriate preventive health services.  If you would like to opt out of receiving recalls, please let us know at reception. You may be asked to sign a decline form.

Management of your Personal Health Information:

Your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of personal health information at all times and to ensure that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.

Compliments and Complaints:

We are a Cornerstone Practice which means we meet high quality care provisions and are independently audited to these standards by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.  We also undertake regular other quality audits in line with any care contracts we may hold.

In providing a quality health service we comply with the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights. If you feel your rights have been breached, or you wish to raise an incident where we have not met your expectations please let us know.  We welcome any opportunity to improve our standard of service and uncover any problems.  Brochures outlining your rights under The Code can be found in the brochure stand in the practice.

If we have exceeded your service expectations please feel free to send a pat on the back to the team.

You may raise any concern verbally or in writing (you can collect a form from the stand in the entrance to the practice, send any letters to PO Box 58 Turangi or emails to manager@pihanga.co.nz).  Alternatively should you feel unable to do this you may have the support of an independent advocate from the Health and Disability Commissioners office.  Support from these advocates is free and they can be contacted by phoning 0800 11 22 33.

For more information about our complaints process please ask any member of staff.