{"id":14697,"date":"2022-12-12T13:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T00:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/209.38.93.90\/?p=14697"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:34:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:34:49","slug":"how-to-get-medical-care-over-the-holiday-season-and-avoid-unneccessary-long-queues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastcare.co.nz\/zh\/how-to-get-medical-care-over-the-holiday-season-and-avoid-unneccessary-long-queues\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get Medical care over the holiday season (and avoid unneccessary long queues)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"14697\" class=\"elementor elementor-14697\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-81ae354 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"81ae354\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1274f567\" data-id=\"1274f567\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4387123a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4387123a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Wait times for Urgent Care always surge during the festive season. Already, East Care Urgent Care is experiencing long wait times.\u00a0 So, over the Christmas and New Year period, when GP clinics are closed, we want to ensure you get the right care.<\/p><h3>Holiday Surcharge will apply from 25th December to 8th January 2023<\/h3><p>We anticipate extra high demand and the costs of delivering health care over the holiday period will increase. So, East Care has implemented an $18 surcharge from 25th December to 8th January. This will be on top of our normal <a href=\"https:\/\/eastcare.co.nz\/zh\/fees\/\">fees<\/a>.<\/p><p>However, this surcharge will be waived for children under 14 years of age, and any patients with a Community Services Card. Moreover, for anyone needing urgent care, this will also help relieve wait times as non-urgent care cases will be encouraged to use alternative services.<\/p><h3>How we will assess you for Urgent Care (and help you be seen as swiftly as possible)<\/h3><p>Naturally, we\u2019re still open for URGENT\u00a0Medical and Accident care \u2013\u00a0 7 am to 11 pm, 7 days at <a href=\"https:\/\/eastcare.co.nz\/zh\/contact\/\">260 Botany Road.<\/a><\/p><p>Remember, if you have a medical emergency, call 111 for an ambulance.<\/p><p>To make things as smooth as possible:<\/p><ol><li>Our team will triage you on arrival to assess how we can help<\/li><li>Note we might ask you to return the next day if your treatment can be delayed<\/li><li>Also, if we can&#8217;t see you in a timely way or your needs can be met elsewhere we&#8217;ll re-direct you. Namely, this might be to another clinic or hospital, or online.<\/li><\/ol><h3>Need non-urgent medical advice? (Not for a medical emergency or accident?)<\/h3><ul><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/eastcare.co.nz\/zh\/complimentary-services\/superclinic-pharmacy\/\">pharmacy<\/a> can provide advice and treatment for common minor illnesses<\/li><li>If you need prescriptions or medical advice, <a href=\"https:\/\/practiceplus.nz\/\">virtual doctor video consults<\/a> are available through the Practice Plus online service. Yes, they&#8217;re available in the evenings and at weekends.<\/li><\/ul><p>Hopefully, these steps will help reduce wait times for Urgent Care. From the <a href=\"https:\/\/eastcare.co.nz\/zh\/east-care-team\/\">East Care team<\/a>, we&#8217;re wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday season.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wait times for Urgent Care always surge during the festive season. Already, East Care Urgent Care is experiencing long wait ... <\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Holiday wait times for urgent care - Holiday surcharge - East Care<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We&#039;re expecting long wait times at Urgent care over the festive period. 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