Kavinda Herath
Invercargill needs an urgent care clinic, says West Invercargill Health doctor Mohamed Azeez, whose specialist qualifications include fellowships in both the Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care and the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.
Senior staff at an Invercargill doctors clinic are investigating setting up an urgent care clinic in the city, saying it will take pressure off Southland Hospital’s emergency department.
Urgent care is the branch of medicine that covers the treatment of accidents and urgent medical problems in the community, The Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care website says.
Patients would typically have acute injuries or illnesses and be prioritised on arrival.
Clinics provided non-appointment care, were typically open seven days, from 8am until at least 8pm, and were equipped and staffed to manage urgent medical problems and accidents, and offer x-rays, fracture clinics and complex wound treatments.
West Invercargill Health practice manager Joseph Davidson and one of its GPs, Dr Mohamed Azeez, said they believed an urgent care clinic was needed in Invercargill.
They hoped to set one up within the next two or three years.
Dr Azeez, whose specialist qualifications include fellowships in both the Royal New Zealand College of Urgent Care and the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said Invercargill residents currently struggled to get timely medical attention after 5pm.
They often had to wait a number of hours at the hospital’s emergency department before being seen, he said.
“That’s why the community needs an urgent care facility.”
A lot of people with minor injuries and medical problems currently went to the hospital’s emergency department, he said.
Kavinda Herath
West Invercargill Health practice manager Joseph Davidson and Dr Mohamed Azeez say Invercargill needs an urgent care clinic.
“So if you have a proper urgent care facility, like there are in some other parts of the country, patients will get faster care instead of waiting a long time.”
Southland Hospital general manager Simon Donlevy said there were currently after-hours services in Invercargill for when the community couldn’t wait to seek health care.
But he welcomed any projects that would improve the public’s access to health care.
Alongside the after-hours doctors clinic in Invercargill, patients could also call their own GP after hours, Healthline was available 24/7 for free medical advice, and a rural after-hours telehealth service was launched in November, he said.
”We acknowledge that our emergency department [ED], like many across the motu, is busy, and we work very hard to prioritise all care appropriately.”
The sickest patients were seen first and sometimes people had to wait when presenting with a minor illness or injury, Donlevy said.
The hospital introduced a 16-week pilot emergency consult this winter where some people had the option to consult with a doctor online. This helped alleviate the pressure on the emergency department.
”We are continuing to work to identify solutions that will help us provide the right care at the right time for our communities.”
Davidson said Invercargill’s WellSouth after-hours doctors service was currently being run in a similar way to a GP clinic [as opposed to an urgent care clinic].
Given this, he believed opening an urgent care clinic – which ambulances took patients directly to – would be a win for the community and the hospital’s emergency department.
“It means the system runs better, and it means there is better access for the community.”
A WellSouth spokesperson said it was unable to respond to questions before deadline.
