Same Day Acute Care
The Upper Hutt Health Centre offer same day appointments for patients who have urgent issues which need to be dealt with immediately. When you phone for a same day appointment you will be triaged by a nurse or doctor who will determine:
- whether or not you need an urgent appointment and a same day appointment booked.
- your problem can be solved over the telephone.
- your problem can be managed with a routine appointment.
Patients seen in the same day acute care clinic will be seen by a doctor or a nurse. People with urgent life threatening conditions will be seen as a priority, so you may not always be seen straight away.
Please note, routine issues such as WINZ forms and insurance medicals do not qualify as urgent and will not be given a same day appointment in this clinic. These clinics are reserved for those who have serious clinical issues.
Cost
Same day acute care appointments have a normal appointment charge. If you need a script but no appointment, the usual script charge will apply.
Please see fees here.
Why is the practice doing this?
Upper Hutt has a duty clinic from Monday to Friday to ensure that patients with serious or urgent conditions can be seen as soon as possible. The duty clinic is staffed by all the doctors and nurses on a roster. This also ensures that when you have a routine appointment with your doctor they will not be called away to see urgent cases. This means better care for everyone.
“Health is not valued until sickness comes”
Thomas Fuller