Practice Information

Independent Hawera
General Practitioner

The advent of PHOs (Primary Health Organisations) has changed the face of General Practice, but it's emphasis on "populations" over individuals (see "Population-based vs individual-based practice") and the imposition of management into the Doctor-Patient relationship has been unacceptable to this practice, and many others who simply left. We elected to remain an Independent Private service, which proved to be unprofitable (see "GP earns less than minimum wage"). Despite this, patients can expect care directed to their particular health needs with advice and management based on what the evidence shows is best for them, although not necessarily the cheapest nor the most politically correct. However, they must expect to pay for this service themselves, although there are some funding supports available.

Our General Practice deals with virtually every branch of Medicine: Surgery (including doing minor surgery), Urology, ENT, Gynaecology, Internal Medicine (ie Cardiology, Pulmonology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Neurology), Pharmacology, Geriatrics, Dermatology, Psychiatry, Paediatrics and Orthopaedics, with referral to appropriate non-GP specialist care when needed. We are also significantly involved in Public Health (mainly disease Prevention) and to a lesser extent in Anaesthetics (local anaesthetics only), Ophthalmology (mostly infections and foreign bodies), Oncology (mainly investigation and later support) and some Emergency Medicine (although serious emergencies are best managed at the Emergency Department = ED). Areas not covered are Radiology, Pathology, and funded Obstetrics (but happy to see pregnant women with health problems privately). Our patients will be referred to appropriate non-GP specialties where appropriate but given the delays in the public system, I encourage many to have private specialist involvement (particularly if insured or well off), to avoid potentially disastrous poor outcomes. What we Don't do