Casual Services available at East Care
Sometimes you need a casual doctor appointment with a GP you are not enrolled with. Maybe you’re visiting from overseas or are enrolled for medical services elsewhere and need a casual appointment. Find out our casual service fees.
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What is a casual healthcare service or casual doctor appointment?
Aside from being an Urgent Care clinic, our team also offer a variety of casual healthcare service. So, if you need medical advice or a normal GP consultation, you can see our East Care GPs.
Simply walk-in to our medical clinic on Botany Road and let our customer service team know you would like a casual healthcare service.
Casual Services include:
- Non-urgent medical examinations.
- Appointments with our Nurse practitioner for simple assessments and prescriptions i.e. UTIs, Emergency contraception
- Nurse-led clinic drop ins i.e. wound re-dressing; fracture clinics
How much a casual service cost at East Care?
Normally, in NZ you will be enrolled with a family GP and any funding from the public health system in your region will be applied directly to your healthcare fees. However, if you are not an enrolled patient visiting our privately funded clinic, you can expect to pay our standard casual fees.
Can I become an enrolled patient at East Care?
As East Care is an Urgent Care clinic, our focus is on A&E and after-hours medical care. However, as part of Care Group we are passionate about ensuring continuity of care.
If you are looking for a regular family GP to enrol with locally, we can refer you to quality local Doctors including:
– Botany Junction Medical Centre, Botany
– Highbrook Medical Centre, East Tāmaki
– Ormiston Medical Centre, Flat Bush
– Pukekohe Family Health Care, Pukekohe
Who do casual healthcare services
apply to?
You might need to use our casual, walk-in service if you are:
– visiting from overseas
– are not a NZ resident with eligibility for healthcare funding from the public system
– are visiting East Auckland and are enrolled with a doctor elsewhere. That’s because you can only be enrolled with one doctor at a time.
For a full list of who is eligible for Healthcare funding in NZ, visit Te Whatu Ora and see their guide to public health.
Does ACC (Accident Compensation) cover non-residents or overseas travellers?
If you need urgent care and are not an NZ resident casual service fees will apply. Furthermore, visitors to NZ may get some help with accidents but we recommend checking the official ACC treatment coverage. Of course, we recommend always getting travel insurance before you travel, as illness; or injuries that happen during transits are not covered by ACC.
How to contact us
- Email info@eastcare.co.nz
- Phone number (09) 277 1516
- Fax (09) 277 1515
- 260 Botany Road, Howick 2013, Auckland
- PO Box 38306, Howick 2145, Auckland
Frequently asked questions
Patients are facing long wait times of 3-4 hours at our urgent care centre due to a shortage of appointments with primary care doctors and an influx of patients at the local emergency department. We are trying to add more staff to address this issue, but there is a nationwide shortage of nurses and doctors, which makes it difficult to find and hire new staff.
At East Care, patients are seen based on the severity of their condition, as determined by the Australasian Triage Standards. This means that patients are seen in the order of medical priority.
It's recommended that you visit your primary care doctor for regular medical care. GP's receive funding from local Primary Health Organizations (PHO’s) to care for their patients throughout the year. East Care doesn't receive funding to provide care when GPs are open, but they do receive some funding from Health NZ to provide care after hours. As a result, consultation charges may be lower in the evenings and on weekends.
East Care does not have access to your entire medical history, so they cannot provide repeat prescriptions. They can provide a temporary prescription in some urgent cases until you can see your GP for ongoing care.
East Care is an Urgent Care Centre that provides medical treatment for sudden illnesses or injuries. It is not a primary care facility who enrols patients and does not provide ongoing care. For ongoing medical care, it is best to be enrolled with a local GP. However we can see casual patients.
Our medical charges are for the time spent with the nurses, doctor, treatments and procedures. So, our advertised fees typically cover the cost of the examination, triage, assessment, diagnosis and treatment provided by the doctors and nursing staff. It also covers the administration requirements carried out by our reception staff during your visit.
Complementary onsite services
At our Botany Road premises, we offer a number of onsite services including a Pharmacy and Radiology to ensure your visit to the Centre is as stress free as possible.
