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Ostend Medical is Accepting New Patients

Having successfully recruited additional nursing staff in recent months, including our new Nurse Team Leader Barbara Sangster, Ostend Medical Centre is now able to accept new patients. If you have friends or family members who have been waiting to join our friendly clinic, please share this news with them.

When new patients join us, they will be booked for a full clinical review with one of our nurses. This will involve a comprehensive review of medical history and regular prescriptions, set up of all recommended recalls, and a physical examination to get up-to-date health information. This means that when a GP appointment is needed by the patient, we will have all the necessary information to see the patient efficiently and effectively.

New patients interested in joining the practice can call reception on 372 5005.

Exciting News About Virtual Appointments

In addition to our onsite clinicians, Ostend Medical Centre patients can book virtual appointments with two highly experienced GPs, Dr Zoe Douglass and Dr Richard Van Gelder-Horgan.

Zoe is a familiar face to many of our patients, having been onsite with us at OMC for several months each year since 2020. Zoe currently resides in the UK but offers virtual appointments for patients from 7:30-9:30am on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

This is a great way to get your doctor’s appointment in before work or school and can be done via phone or video consult, or TytoCare if you’d like to come into the clinic within opening hours.

Virtual Appointments With TytoCare

Dr Richard Van Gelder-Horgan works for Ostend Medical Centre on Fridays from his home base in the Nelson region.

He is a graduate of Otago University with a particular interest in supporting patients to age well. Richard also offers phone and video consults to patients who want to see a doctor from the comfort of their own home, but we especially encourage Richard’s patients to come into the clinic to take advantage of the amazing TytoCare technology.

Ostend Medical Centre is one of the few GP practices in the country trialling TytoCare in virtual appointments. This incredible technology lets our virtual doctors examine your ears, lungs, heart, throat, skin, abdomen, and temperature, providing you with an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan for most common illnesses.

If you book in with one of our virtual doctors, you will still be given the option to have a phone or video consult from home. However, we’d also welcome you to come into the clinic, where one of our Health Care Assistants will facilitate a TytoCare appointment with the GP on duty. TytoCare appointments are ideal for many on-the-day appointments, especially childhood illnesses, as they allow the doctor to look into the patient’s ears and throat while also monitoring temperature and blood pressure, examining rashes and listening to lung sounds.

Flu Jabs Now Available

Winter is coming and we would love to get as many of our patients as possible protected against flu before the season starts!

The 2024 flu vaccine is recommended for everyone over 6 months and is free for:

people aged 65 and over.
people who have a long-term medical condition like diabetes, asthma, or a heart condition (ages 6 months and older)
pregnant people
children aged 4 years and under who have a history of significant respiratory illness.
people with mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizoaffective disorder.
people who are currently accessing secondary or tertiary mental health and addiction services

For everyone else, the flu jab is $35, although we think that avoiding the fever, chills, muscle aches, runny nose, cough, shortness of breath, and stomach upsets that can keep you in bed for a week or more is priceless!

And when you’re in for your flu jab, you are very welcome to also get your COVID-19 booster if you’re due. The prevalence of COVID-19 on the island in recent months has made it clear that we all need to stay protected, and if you are 30 years of age and over, that means getting a booster if it has been at least six months since you have had COVID-19 or a previous vaccine. Boosters are especially recommended for:

people aged 65 and older.
Māori and Pacific people aged 50 and older.
residents of aged care facilities
severely immunocompromised people
people aged 12 years and over who have a medical condition that increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.

We look forward to helping you stay healthy this winter. Call us on 372 5005 to book today. While we would love to get you protected as soon as possible, if you aren’t able to book in with us for the first week of April, we’d be happy to accommodate another date for you.

Wellbeing Support for Young People

Through our Primary Health Organisation, ProCare, Ostend Medical Centre can offer wellbeing support for young people that goes beyond routine medical appointments. This includes mental health and wellbeing support from a Health Improvement Practitioner.

We recently heard the story of Dylan and were moved by his reflections on experiences he had as a young person. About 20 years ago, Dylan was a 15-year-old experiencing overwhelming emotions. Not knowing what to do, he visited his Medical Centre. The GP was able to explain what might be at the root of his worries and to reassure him. Dylan felt relieved but didn’t leave with the appointment with any strategies. He was experiencing mental health issues, but he didn’t meet the threshold for mental health support, which was outside the GP’s control.

His negative feelings continued to escalate, and Dylan attempted suicide, thankfully without success. He then received mental health support and struggled for a few years until he found his way through this. Knowing what is now available, Dylan is convinced that if he had access to a Health Improvement Practitioner (HIP) at the time, his mental health would not have suffered as it did.

HIPs are registered health professionals who can help reduce barriers to mental health support, especially as their service is provided for FREE.

Ostend Medical Centre’s HIP is Rozanne Gold who is accessible for all enrolled patients, including young people. Rozanne is great at giving tips and resources that are specific to each patient’s individual needs.

Call us today or talk to your GP if you’d like to book a free session with Rozanne.

Advice for Appointment Bookings

No one likes to wait in a doctor’s waiting room, and at Ostend Medical Centre we try hard to stay on schedule and get you in and out promptly. Our patients can help with this by arriving on time and by being direct with the doctors and nurses about their health concerns.

And the #1 rule of thumb – if you have more than two things to discuss with the clinician, we would appreciate you asking our reception team when you book if you should have a double appointment. This gives you and our clinicians plenty of time to discuss all your concerns and make a solid plan for your treatment.

One of the lengthiest types of bookings that our clinicians routinely undertake are appointments to complete forms that require physical examinations, such as Driver’s License medical assessments and physicals for things like scuba diving and firefighting. For this reason, these appointments will be booked as double appointments going forward and will be at a cost of $80 to reflect the time needed to complete them.