Kathy leaving after 26 yrs
 After working continuously as a Practice Nurse for Doctors Buist, Armstrong, Stockdill, Eloff & Blayney in the Collins St Medical Centre for a marathon 26 years, Kathy Stewart has decided to have a change and try her hand at Well Child care at Ruanui Health. She finished on Friday 25th July and was farewelled at a Practice luncheon. We all wish her well in her change of pace and orientation, and hope she has a significant positive effect on the future health of the children she sees. |
Job Sharing
Instead of replacing Kathy with one Practice Nurse, we have decided that it would be advantageous to jobshare, with one nurse (Jill Dunlop) working Wednesday and Thursday and (Diane Bezuidenhout) working Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings, with two other nurses filling in if needed. Gail Werder, our main receptionist also plans to work Monday-Thursday, with Kerry Coxhead working all day Friday.
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New Surgery Times
From Monday 28th July patients will be able to be seen from 8.30am. However, there will often be no Practice Nurse available in the afternoon, so maternity and gynaecology patients will be asked to attend in the morning.
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No Repeat Prescriptions!!
Because the number of problems per patient increases the longer a patient isn't seen by the doctor, it is considered good practice to see patients for each prescription. If there are no problems, a consultation can be brief, but we have found that most patients do have problems, and that some have "saved them up". This was not only potentially dangerous, it made consultations impossibly long and frustrating, particularly for other patients being kept waiting! |
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GP Charitable Trust
As you are probably aware, a GP Charitable Trust is being set up with a view to employing all Hawera GPs at a purpose built single site "one stop shop" clinic designed to attract and retain GPs to Hawera. This has important consequences for patients as well as GPs and particularly this practice.
Advantages to patients include access to more sophisticated shared equipment, ability to see a GP any day, possibly lower fees (unlikely unless part of a PHO -a Primary Health Organisation), proximity to hospital services (X-Ray, laboratory, physio etc) and more flexible hours.
Disadvantages include having to attend a clinic at the other end of town instead of our traditional site, no choice in GP if I am busy, possibly less privacy (depending on facility design), less access to Practice Nurse and receptionist (less staff/GP) and stricter charging for time taken.
There are advantages and disadvantages to GPs which I will not document here, but essentially I would lose a significant investment and my independence in order to gain a better income and guaranteed time off.
One of the ways you can influence the decision about this move is to answer this simple survey.
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Your Response
Please take a few minutes to answer a simple poll to help us decide if we should join this GP Trust clinic (and close the current surgery).
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