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Important update from Jenny:

AFTER 32 YEARS OF CARING……DR JENNY LEA HAS SOLD HER PRACTICE TO DR TRINH WRIGHT…. BUT STAYS ON AS LOCUM

I have recently sold my portion of the practice to Dr Trinh Wright. Trinh joins Hollie and Nicola as a partner of Upper Harbour Medical Centre. We are proud to continue to be a GP owned practice. Trinh is well known to Dr Hollie Shine & Dr Phil Barter & she has been working with us for the last six months. I am happy to warmly recommend her to you. She is a very experienced GP who is a delight & who we are privileged to have join us. Although I step back from management & being a partner in the practice I have been invited to stay on as a Locum relieving for all the Drs in the Practice. Any patient under my care will now have Trinh as their Dr but no doubt you will see me around for some time to come.

32 years ….. has it been that long?  Yes it really has!!  After 32 years so much has changed. We started as a small two Dr Practice that has grown to become a dependable community asset which will continue for a long time to come, now a four Dr Practice with its own Locum. Over this time  we have aimed to keep the small medical centre feel & will strive to continue to be your traditional local family doctor service.

Medical practice for me is about personal relationship & quality care.  Trust & quality care matter….. I mean REALLY  matter to me & I’m sure matter to you. I know Upper Harbour will continue to hold these values.

“Compassion for the suffering of others is the only true foundation upon which health care can be built. Where powerful commercial interests have overtaken common sense & an ethos of care, quality healthcare cannot flourish “

I have known many of you for 20-30 years. From my days of Obstetrics delivering 500 of you into the community through to caring for the terminally ill, my days in General Practice have been privileged & rich in experience & will continue to be. Thank you for your trust. It’s a joy to continue to serve you in my new capacity. I will see you less over time & Trinh will see you more with time.  The change will be gradual which I hope will help us all.

My Medical Colleagues are an absolute joy to walk along side. We never stop learning from each other. We press each other to continually improve & maintain the highest level of up to date medical standards.  They encourage me, amuse me, laugh with me, story alongside me & put up with me. Thank you.

I cannot speak more highly of our nursing staff at UHMC. Professional to the core they practice independent of us most of the time. We are a tight team. They make life/death decisions on the phone most days & I am certain some of you reading this today owe their lives to them. I have the utmost respect for them. Thank you.

Receptionists make the world go round or so it seems to me. We could not function without you. There may be little praise comes your way but you make all the difference in my day, in the day of patients & of other staff. That smile in your voice, your patience, initiative & care oil the machine that is UHMC.

Any extra free time …..’free time ‘…….. what is that????   ………

……will see me playing a little more …….sailing my small trimaran, kayaking, cycling & camping.

Thank You.  Jenny

Flu vaccine from 1st April 2024:

A reminder Upper Harbour Medical Centre offers flu vaccines, these are available from 1^st April 2024. Please do book for these (online booking with the nurse, or through reception). These can also be done opportunistically alongside a routine appointment.

This year the flu vaccine is funded for:

> people aged 65 years 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 been hospitalised for respiratory illness or 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.

We do have the option of an alternate flu vaccine for the >65 year age group, this provides a slight advantage with improved immune response. This vaccine is non-funded, the cost is $45. Please specify if you’d prefer this option when you book. (Limited number available). We are happy to discuss this further as you’d like.

Childhood Immunisations:

We continue to offer these to all our enrolled children. We offer experienced nurses and a private setting to improve your experience.

Virtual GP available the Easter break

A reminder over the Easter period, CareHQ is available if you require after hours care.
Patients of our practice can use the code PRO-1 for $10 off their standard appointment cost – please head directly to the CareHQ website www.carehq.co.nz to register and make a booking.
UHMC is closed from for Easter Friday and Easter Monday.

Covid update:

With the last of the mandates being removed, masks are no longer formally required in medical centres. At Upper Harbour we gently encourage you to please wear a mask in our surgery, if you can The team will continue to wear masks at this time.

Results: a reminder you can find your results on ManageMyHealth – our patient portal (please contact reception to sign up if you haven’t already). If you have had bloods recently, a reminder we operate a ‘no news is good news’ policy, but feel free to contact us to find out results. It is taking 2-3 days for blood results, longer for specific blood results, and longer again for swabs.

Contact details: We utilise texting to send results, if you have recently changed your mobile phone number, address or other contact information, please contact us so we can keep your records up to date. We would also encourage you to book in with us if you have not seen us for a few years, particularly if you are aged 45yrs or over, as it is a good idea to get your blood pressure checked, discuss any screening options and review your health generally (think of this as an annual “WOF”).

Remember, if you have any questions, comments or general feedback, please contact us at reception@uhmc.co.nz

Thanks for choosing us as your medical team,

The Upper Harbour Medical Centre Team.

We are fast approaching the end of 2023. We would like to take this time to thank you for choosing us as your primary care team. A moment to pause and acknowledge the year that has been – a busy winter for us! We finally said goodbye to our “covid cabin”, and things are returning to ‘normal’. We are all hoping for some sunshine and hopefully a rest after fighting all the winter bugs.

We would like to take this time to thank our staff for all their hard work over the year. We are grateful to our team, going above and beyond in all that they do for UHMC day in and day out. Jo and Tracey our reception/admin team, Emma and Bev our experienced nurses, Phill, Trinh and Flora, our doctors, and the partners Jenny, Nicola and Hollie.

A reminder: The holiday season is fast approaching, please plan ahead and order any prescriptions in the next few weeks to ensure you are well stocked for this time.

Some of our staff are taking some well deserved longer breaks over this time. We have cover in place with our experience team and encourage you to book with an alternate doctor if you have something that needs sorting. We work closely together and communicate carefully amongst ourselves if needed.

Christmas Closure: 
We are closed for the holiday break from 1pm Friday 22nd December. We re-open Monday 8th January.

General updates:
If you have moved recently, or your contact details have changed, please let us know. The easiest way is to email us at reception@uhmc.co.nz with the updates, and we will sort this out.
If you are not on the patient portal we’d strongly recommend you sign up for this. You can access results, communicate directly with us, and request prescriptions and appointments. Our reception team can sign you up today!

As always, if you have any feedback, positive or negative, please get in touch. We are always keen to hear from you, and will do what we can to take feedback on board. Best contact is reception@uhmc.co.nz

Thanks again,
The Upper Harbour Medical Centre Team

We are starting to see a bit more sunshine, and the winter bugs are (slowly) slowing down. Time for an update on what is happening at Upper Harbour.

Staff changes:

We have a new doctor joining our team. Dr Trinh Wright has worked with both Hollie and Phill before, and brings with her experience, great communication skills and compassion. We know you will be in good hands. Trinh will be initially covering holiday leave and providing support for the team. We have also had Dr Flora Kwon working with us the last few months, we are grateful that Flora will continue to work for us over the next few months.

Our lovely nurse Jane is about to head off on maternity leave for her 2^nd child. We wish her all the very best and hope things go smoothly.

Covid update:

With the last of the mandates being removed, masks are no longer formally required in medical centres. At Upper Harbour we would encourage you to please wear a mask in our surgery, to keep us all safe. The team will continue to wear masks at this time.

We continue to utilise our dedicated cabin for respiratory consultations (coughs/colds/flu like illnesses).  Please continue to let us know if you have coughs/colds so we can organise to see you in this space. On arrival for your appointment please continue to text the mobile phone and wait in your car.  The waiting room is open for all other patients.

Fees update:

Unfortunately due to longstanding inadequate Government funding, coupled with the rising costs of doing business, we have had to increase our fees.  These new fees will come into effect from Monday 28^th August 23. This is an important step in maintaining our services and staff. We trust you will appreciate this is difficult for us to do, but an inevitable process.

Immunisation updates:

We encourage everyone in their 65^th year to check if you have had the Shingles vaccine, ‘shingrex’. This is funded for everyone but only in their 65^th year so please book for this when you reach this milestone.

Pertussis reminder – whooping cough is circulating again, a push to remind all pregnant wahine and their whanau, to please book for your boostrix vaccine. This is free in pregnancy, and strongly encouraged to protect our vulnerable babies. 

Other updates:

Changes to cervical screening program – from end of September the cervical screening program will be changing to an “HPV self-swab” program. This will still require an appointment as there are specific instructions. However this will hopefully reduce some of the discomfort out of this screening program, as cervical smears will only be needed in a small number of cases. Please read more detail here if you want: https://healthify.nz/health-a-z/h/hpv-testing/#:~:text=The%20human%20papillomavirus%20(HPV)%20test,cervix%20are%20removed%20for%20testing.

Results: a reminder you can find your results on ManageMyHealth – our patient portal (please contact reception to sign up if you haven’t already). If you have had bloods recently, a reminder we operate a ‘no news is good news’ policy, but feel free to contact us to find out results. It is taking 2-3 days for blood results, longer for specific blood results, and longer again for swabs.

Contact details: We utilise texting to send results, if you have recently changed your mobile phone number, address or other contact information, please contact us so we can keep your records up to date.

We would also encourage you to book in with us if you have not seen us for a few years, particularly if you are aged 45yrs or over, as it is a good idea to get your blood pressure checked, discuss any screening options and review your health generally (think of this as an annual “WOF”).

Remember, if you have any questions, comments or general feedback, please contact us at reception@uhmc.co.nz

Hoping for more sunshine and less rain as we head into spring.

Nga mihi,

The Upper Harbour Medical Centre Team.