Like all General Practices we are required to provide after-hours support for our patients. The difference with Riccarton Clinic is that we are open during many of those times that other medical centres are closed. For those times that we are closed we provide a telephone triage service that will give health advice and refer you to overnight services if necessary
Many medical centres are open from 8am through to 5pm five days per week. Riccarton Clinic is a combined General Practice and Urgent Care Clinic. The latter means that we have to offer extended hours of opening, from 8am to 8pm every day of the week. We are even open on Christmas Day.
Our enrolled patients gain the benefit of this. Although you may not be able to see your usual GP, our roster means that evening and weekend working is shared evenly, you will be dealt with by the usual reception and nursing team and see a GP who has access to your notes. You may even get to see your usual GP if they are working that day.
Outside of our opening hours we offer a telephone nursing service that will give you advice on what action to take. You will automatically be put through to them when you call our normal number 03 343 3661. The nursing service will also be able to give you general health advice but they do not have access to your medical notes. The range of options available to you, after calling the nursing service, go from:
• Waiting until we open the next day (and we are always open the next day at 8am),
• Going to an overnight facility (such as the hospital ED or the 24 hr Surgery),
• Calling an ambulance.
The phone service will help you to decide what action to take.
We do offer a home visit service during our opening hours, at a cost, but should a patient be sufficiently unwell enough to need this it may be more appropriate for them to be in a medical facility under observation.
