Ground floor, Ilam Health Building, 110 Memorial Avenue, Burnside, Christchurch : Ph 03 351 6198 :
We are now offering Covid Vaccination appointments to Ilam Medical Centre patients. We are only authorised to administer the pfizer vaccine. We cannot offer Astra Zeneca Covid vaccines at this practice.
Please call reception to book an appointment.
Anyone aged 12 years or over can be booked in for their 1st, 2nd, 3rd or booster vaccination. Please note the 3rd vaccination is only required for immunocompromised patients and will require a consult with your doctor first.
*Please note we will not begin vaccinating the 5-11 year aged population until mid- late March
For information about the vaccine please click on the link below
https://covid19.govt.nz/covid-19-vaccines/
Posted in Covid 19 | Comments Off on Covid Vaccinations for our patients
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We encourage telephone consultations where possible but for those patients needing to be seen in the clinic they will be asked health questions related to Covid symptoms before an appointment can be made. It is very important that these questions are answered honestly.
Both vaccinated and unvaccinated patients can be seen in the clinic but only after being triaged and a mask will be required. Any patients with a mask exemption will need to be seen outside in our Covid cabin – please let the reception team know when you make the booking.,
If you have been in contact with a Covid 19 case within the last 14 please DO NOT come into our building. Speak to reception about booking a telephone consultation.
Patients will need to be a minimum of 1.5 meters apart while sitting in our waiting room. If we have too many patients waiting, you will be asked to wait outside.
Vaccine passes are not required for patients to enter our building as we are an essential service.
Contractors or visitors (non patients) will be required to show a vaccine pass.
Thank you for your co operation with these processes.
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Appointments for telephone, in person or Covid 19 testa can be made by calling the reception team. If you want a face to face appointment, you will be asked the following health questions before an appointment is made. Do you have any of the following:
If you have any symptoms you will be put on our Nurse telephone triage list for the day. You will be phoned back and your medical needs assessed. You may be booked for a Covid swab by our staff at our Clinic B (separate building next door). It may be appropriate for you to have a telephone consult or a carpark consult if you have any respiratory symptoms.
Telephone consultations can be very useful and a good option for issues not requiring physical examination. Recent legislative changes mean we are now able to provide ACC consultations and renew sickness benefits via telephone consultation. Please make sure we have your correct telephone number. Standard consultation charges apply.
Carpark consults may be required where you need to be seen but also have respiratory symptoms meaning that you also require a Covid swab. The triage nurse will discuss the process with you at the time of booking. Please call reception upon arrival 3516 198
As per the Ministry of Health’s current case definition we are providing COVID-19 test swabbing for all our enrolled patients (appointment only) that are experiencing any of the above symptoms. If you fall into this group, we strongly encourage you to contact us and arrange an appointment through our triage nurse to get a swab as this is the best way to pick up a recurrence of COVID in the community.
If you are booked for a Covid swab you will need to use the entrance to “Clinic B’ to the right of our main driveway. Please call reception upon arrival 3516 198 and Do NOT get out of your car.
The nurse will come to your vehicle to do the swab. If you are on foot, please observe social distancing and wait in the carpark.
Swab Results The results of your COVID-19 swab are usually available 24-48 hours after the swab is taken. If the result is positive, you will be contacted by Community & Public Health and they will begin contact tracing to try to establish a connection with an existing known infected person. If the result is negative, you will be contacted by one of our staff.
Please scan our NZ COVID Tracer QR code when you enter the building, especially if you are accompanying a patient, as you will not be recorded in our appointment books for the day.
We will continue to have an emphasis within the practice on infection control by strict handwashing routines for staff and the use of personal protection equipment by staff where necessary. We ask that all patients use hand sanitiser on arrival and departure from the medical centre. We will also provide a mask for patients with respiratory symptoms. THESE PATIENTS WILL ONLY BE ALLOWED TO WAIT IN THE BUILDING IF THEY HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ASSESSED.
Covid 19 has brought many challenges to us all. Some people are more affected than others. Social isolation and financial as well as health concerns impact our physical and emotional health. If you need to discuss this with your GP, book an appointment. You can also access 24 hour telephone support by using the “Need to talk” service by texting 1737
The best place to get the most up to date information is the NZ Government website: www.covid19.govt.nz
You can also visit the Healthinfo website:
Or you can call Healthline on 0800 611 116
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Here is a great article that appeared recently in the Christchurch Press. It contains some excellent advice from a paediatrician for parents and caregivers of young children.
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9th July 2021
If you think you have been missed or you don’t have a GP, email COVID19@cdhb.health.nz for booking information.
We would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t contact our reception about booking for your Covid Vaccination. The best place for up to date information can be found at VaccinateCanterburyWestcoast.nz
Posted in Covid 19 | Comments Off on If you are in group 3 three and you haven’t been contacted…..
We know that our patients are finding it difficult to get good information about when they can expect to be vaccinated.
In Waitaha/Canterbury we’re currently vaccinating people in Group 1, Group 2 and a small number of people in Group 3.
To roll out the largest vaccination programme in our history we are vaccinating people in groups, starting with those most likely to catch the virus and those most at risk of getting sick.
Our focus is on continuing to get those in Groups 1 and 2 vaccinated and those in Group 3 booked and vaccinated. Everyone in Group 3 will be invited to book their vaccination by the end of July.
From 28 July people in Group 4 will be able to register their details on Book My Vaccine (the new national booking system). Once bookings are open for each age group people will be sent an email or text letting them know it’s their turn to book. Book My Vaccine and a national booking 0800 number will be ready to use from 28 July.
When it is your turn to book an appointment, you will be contacted directly with instructions about how to book. This will be by text, email, letter or phone call.
If you’re in Group 3 and you haven’t been contacted to book your vaccination, you don’t need to do anything right now. you will be contacted when it’s your turn. Please be patient.
As our patients will already know, we are a very busy medical centre. We seriously considered a variety of options to deliver the Covid19 vaccine at the practice. Regrettably due to our limited physical space at the practice as well as the existing high workload it not practical for us to be involved in the vaccination program. We simply do not have the physical space required to accommodate the extra vaccination and administration staff that would be required. Our patients will be contacted by the “Vaccinate Canterbury” team in due course. We would appreciate you not ringing the practice to ask for information about the Covid Vaccination program as the extra calls are clogging up our phone lines.
We know that our patients will be disappointed that Ilam is not involved in the vaccination program. So are we. All we can do is ask you to be patient and wait to be contacted. Thank you for your understanding.
Posted in Covid 19 | Comments Off on When will group 3 start being vaccinated?
We acknowledge the frustration that our patients are experiencing with accessing information about the Covid vaccine rollout in Canterbury. It is a complex issue. The short turn around times due to super cold freezer space and supply chain logistics make it difficult to manage.
Currently we do not have enough information from the Ministry of Health to be in a position to decide if we can offer the vaccine at our practice.
The information provided below is all we can offer our patients at this time
13th May 21 from Canterbury Primary Response Group to all General practices in Canterbury:
“The Ministry of Health has confirmed again this week that they expect general practice and community pharmacy to be involved in the vaccine delivery, however this needs to be in a safe and measured way. Vaccine supplies in NZ are constrained until the end of June, requiring calculated planning and a phasing of the roll out programme to match supply.
Come July when the MoH expects to take delivery of larger stocks, vaccine delivery across primary care is expected to grow slowly with broader involvement continuing to match vaccine availability. This is expected to speed up as we start vaccinating Groups 3 and 4.
As plans are finalised, and timings confirmed, we will be working with the Canterbury DHB Communications team to provide information for the public regarding when they can access vaccination in Canterbury, and how they can book a vaccination appointment. We will also let general practice teams know when we need you to alert your enrolled populations.”
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As per MOH guidelines, we were only authorised to vaccinate our over 65 year old population up until 16th May 2021.
All other patients are able to be vaccinated from 17th May. Please call reception to book your time in one of our morning or afternoon clinics. For those people who are not eligible to receive a funded vaccine the cost will be $25.00
You can have your annual flu shot and your COVID-19 vaccination, but not at the same time.
Get your COVID-19 vaccination first if you have an appointment booked for it.
If you do not have an appointment booked for a COVID-19 vaccination, get your flu shot first.
Leave a gap of two weeks between the COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine.
If you would like to access more information about the flu vaccine please visit the “fight Flu” website https://www.fightflu.co.nz/
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Please call reception to book for weekday clinics 3516 198.
The annual Flu vaccination clinic will run on Saturday 17th April 2021:
There is NO NEED to book for this clinic – please come down within the hour that relates to your surname as listed below:
Patients with Surname A- F 8:00am – 9:00am
Patients with Surname G – M 9:00am – 10:00am
Patients with surname N- Z 10:00am – 11:00am
*Any patients who have been vaccinated for Covid 19 will need to wait for a minimum of 2 weeks after their second dose before they can receive the Flu vaccine.
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