The clinic will allow some patients to see a doctor virtually.
Patients needing urgent medical care are being assessed within 30 minutes at a new “hybrid” clinic in Pāpāmoa, as one patient says the “phenomenal” facility meant she did not have to wait two weeks for an appointment at her GP.
It comes amid “high demand” for GP services, with some reporting appointment wait times longer than 10 business days.
Consult365 Pāpāmoa - which opened on January 30 - is the first hybrid accident and medical clinic in New Zealand where in-person and telehealth medical services are available.
Previously cited as the first 24/7 clinic in the Bay, the clinic is open daily from 8am to midnight. The intention is to provide 24/7 care “in the near-future” once staff have adapted to the new model, Consult365 Pāpāmoa said.
The clinic has more than 30 staff comprising nurse practitioners, registered nurses and paramedics. They are supported by telehealth provider Emergency Consult’s emergency medicine specialists and on-site by an administration and healthcare assistant team.
On arrival at the clinic, patients are triaged by a registered nurse. They are then seen and treated by a nurse practitioner or paramedic, or remotely by an emergency medicine doctor with assistance from the registered nurse.
New clinic ‘absolutely phenomenal’
Pāpāmoa woman Phillipa Wilson said she was one of the first patients at the clinic on January 30 and waited 10 minutes to be seen.
Wilson said she collapsed at work on January 23 and was taken to Tauranga Hospital, where staff suggested she had heatstroke and was dehydrated and advised her to see her GP.
However, her GP was “fully booked” for two weeks, she said.
Wilson said she was still unwell on January 30 and went to the walk-in clinic.
“They were absolutely phenomenal - very thorough and really listened ... “
Wilson said she got a referral for a blood test and was prescribed some medication, which had “definitely helped”.
“They still encouraged me to see my GP, so I still have an appointment coming, but it was just about seeing someone while I was in that state and not having to wait for a GP to be available.”
Clinic provides ‘urgent’ care for people who can’t see their GP
Emergency Consult founder and chief executive Jenni Falconer told the Bay of Plenty Times patients had been impressed by the time it took to be seen.
“There’s not anywhere these days [where] you can go and be seen in 30 minutes from start to finish.”
Falconer said the clinic saw 77 patients in its first three days of opening.
She planned to track the number of presentations in a bid for funding from Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and the local primary health organisation, which she planned to approach in the next couple of months.
Emergency Consult chief executive Jenni Falconer at a new walk-in clinic - Consult365 Pāpāmoa - which opened on January 30. Photo / NZME
Falconer said the clinic would like to offer free consultations for children under 14.
An adult consultation costs $89 between 8am and 8pm, and $99 after 8pm, on weekends and public holidays. A child consultation costs $49.
She said the clinic aimed to align people back with their GP for “continuity of care”.
“We are the urgent [care service] when you can’t get [assessed by] your GP.”
Telehealth services will ‘make a difference’
Registered nurse Hannah Pearce said using telehealth services was a “great initiative”.
“It speeds up the process so these patients are waiting 20 minutes instead of three, four or five hours. And there’s not much that can’t be done [via] telehealth [services].
“If this works, which it will work, it’s going to actually make a difference, which is really exciting.”
Originally from Tauranga, Pearce had been living in Melbourne for five years, working in a hospital ED and doing some rural and remote work.
She returned to Tauranga for her job at Consult365.
In her view: “It’s not that top 5 per cent of incredibly unwell patients that are the issue, even in the hospital system ... it’s the 60 per cent of ‘can’t get into GPs, need to be seen today or tomorrow but can’t get an appointment’ that’s clogging up the system.”
Consult365 Pāpāmoa practice manager Rowena Cook (left) and clinical nurse manager Marnae Ross. Photo / NZME
Practice manager Rowena Cook said the primary healthcare workforce was “under so much pressure”.
“If we can at least reduce those registered patients’ wait times, we’ve done our job out here.”
In the media release, clinical nurse manager Marnae Ross said patients who needed to be seen quickly provided their problem was “not life or limb-threatening” could go to the clinic.
Ross said the clinic expected to treat conditions such as fractures, wounds, minor burns, sprains, infections, gastro upsets, bites, stings and head injuries daily.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
