Take Care Over The Holidays

22 December 2015

Wishing you a happy, safe and healthy New Year

Wairau Hospital Emergency Department doctors and nurses wish everyone a safe and happy festive season.

Wairau Hospital clinical head of emergency Dr Andrew Morgan encouraged everyone to take care of themselves and their loved ones over the holidays.

If injury or illness does occur he urges people to consider their options and not to treat the ED as a default option.

“It’s in everyone’s interest that the ED is treated as a place where people with serious needs can quickly receive medical help. It’s not set up to focus on routine health care,” he said.

Most doctors would agree on a short list of problems that should always be treated as emergencies – chest pains, stroke symptoms, breathing difficulties, and severe and uncontrolled bleeding among them, he said.

On the other hand, insect bites, strains, sprains and the flu were not generally emergencies and the patient would receive more appropriate treatment elsewhere, he said.

Marlborough Primary Health Organisation chief executive Beth Tester said the PHO, GPs and the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board have been working this year to inform the public about the most appropriate places in Marlborough to seek care for non-emergency conditions.

Primary health providers such as GPs, practice nurses and pharmacists were the people to see for most health matters, she said.

If you are feeling unwell and it’s not a medical emergency, your options include calling healthline on 0800 611 116, or consulting a pharmacist, your GP or practice nurse, she said.

All the general practices in Marlborough will be open on non-statutory holiday days over the Christmas and New Year period. Visitors to Marlborough who need a GP on these days should access the Marlborough Primary Health Organisation website at www.marlboroughpho.org.nz for the acute on-call GP phone number.

The Urgent After-Hours GP clinic is open from 6pm to 10pm weekdays and 8am to 10pm weekends and public holidays. It’s located on the hospital grounds just inside the emergency entrance gate off Hospital Rd, Blenheim.

“We hope that people don’t need the services of the medical profession this summer, but if they do that they see the right person for their needs,” Tester said.

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