A referral letter is required from your health professional, prior to an appointment being made.  Ask your GP, Physiotherapist or Specialist to refer to one of our Surgeons.

• Phone 03 6884447 or Fax 03 684 8455
• Once the referral has been received, we will notify you when your apppointment is.
• If you have a cell phone, you will be sent a text message reminder the day before.
• To cancel an appointment, telephone the office during business hours. Please cancel at least 1 day ahead so that your appointment time can be allocated to another patient who is seeking treatment.
• New patient appointments range from 20-30 minutes and follow ups are 10-20 minutes.

You need to bring with you to your appointment

• Any letters or reports from your doctor or hospital
• Your ACC number, if you have one.
• Your Private Health Insurance details, if you have cover.
• Any X-rays, CT or MRI films and reports. If you have a hard copy image, bring that but if these are not available bring the disc of the images.
• If you have seen a physiotherapist, please bring a progress letter from them if you have one.
• A list of all medicines you are taking including herbal and natural remedies.
• Your pharmaceutical entitlement card.

We make every effort to run on time, but occasionally emergencies or patients require a little more time, and these cause delays beyond our control. We apologize if we keep you waiting. 

Make sure you give your family and friends plenty of notice about your operation, so they can take time off work to be with you if necessary. Learn more about Bidwill Hospital...

Pre-operative assessment

You'll be asked to attend a pre-operative assessment.  You'll be asked questions about your health, your medical history and your home circumstances. Some blood and urine tests may be carried out. This assessment will usually happen a few days before your operation. Make sure you know the results of any previous tests, as well as all the medications, vitamins and herbal supplements you take. You'll be given clear information on:

• whether you need to stop eating and drinking in the hours before your operation (see below),
• whether you should stop taking your usual medications before going into hospital,
• what to bring with you into hospital (see below),
• whether you'll need to stay in hospital overnight and, if so, for how long.

Importance of fasting

If your doctor has instructed you to fast before the operation, it's really important that you don't eat or drink anything – this includes light snacks, sweets and water. You need an empty stomach during surgery so you don't vomit while you are under anaesthetic. If your operation is in the morning, do not eat anything after midnight but you may have water to drink until 6:00am. For afternoon operations, have a light breakfast of toast or cereal (not a cooked breakfast) before 7.30am. You may drink water up until 11:00am. If you take insulin because of diabetes you will still need to avoid eating and drinking before surgery, but make sure your medical team is aware of your condition so appropriate precautions can be taken.

Hygiene

You'll need to remove all make-up and nail polish before your operation.  Its a good idea to have a shower on the morning of your surgery before coming to the hospital.

Cancelling and rearranging your surgery

If you're unable to attend your hospital appointment or you don't feel well enough to have your operation, let the hospital (03 6871230) and the secretaries at Aorangi Surgical Group (03 6884447) know as soon as possible. Your admission will be rearranged for another day. Let your surgeon know if you develop a cough, cold or fever a few days before surgery. They will advise whether your operation can go ahead.

What to pack for hospital

• A nightdress or pyjamas
• Day clothes
• Reading glasses
• Clean underwear
• Dressing gown and slippers
• Small hand towel
• Toiletries – soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorantsanitary towels or tampons
• Razor and shaving materials
• Comb or hairbrush
• Book or magazines
• Small amount of money
• Medication that you normally take, and a list of the doses for each medicine
• Notebook and pen
• Healthy snacks
• Address book and important phone numbers, including your gp's contact details

Office hours for payment of accounts: 9.00am-5.00pm, Monday to Friday. Payments can be made by Internet banking, Eftpos, Cash, Cheque or Credit Card.

Private appointments and surgery

If you are referred to the practice privately, you are responsible for payment of your consultation. If surgery is then undertaken you will receive separate accounts for the following elements of the surgical episode: 

• The surgeons fee
• The anaesthetist fee
• The Hospital fee
• Implant costs.

If you have a Health Insurance Policy, it is also important to make sure you know whether or not your policy covers 100% of any treatment you may need. Some policies have a pre-determined maximum figure that will be paid for a procedure. Where this amount is not adequate to cover the full cost of the appointment or procedure you will be left to cover the shortfall. You will need to collate all invoices relating to your surgery and forward these to your Health Insurance Company for payment, along with any prior approval information provided.

ACC appointments and ACC surgery

If you have been referred to the practice with an accepted ACC claim, 100% of the cost of your treatment may be covered by ACC. For confirmation, please contact your local ACC office or visit www.acc.co.nz. If however your claim is declined, then you are responsible for the account.

 As a Patient or Patient Representative of Aorangi Surgical Group, please be aware that you are liable to pay the fees and all costs incurred related to your treatment by the 20th of the month following receipt of an invoice. All collection costs incurred in the recovery of this debt will be for the responsibility of the Patient or Patient Representative. Please contact us if you have any queries regarding the above.

Introducing MedowAi at Aorangi Surgical Group

At Aorangi Surgical Group, we are committed to continually improving the quality, efficiency, and safety of the care we provide. As part of this commitment, we are now utilising MedowAi, an advanced clinical documentation and support platform.

MedowAi assists our team by streamlining clinical note-taking and enhancing the accuracy of medical records, allowing our specialists to spend more time focused on patient care. This technology supports our clinicians in delivering clear, timely, and comprehensive documentation while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and confidentiality.

The integration of MedowAi reflects our ongoing dedication to embracing innovation and ensuring the best possible experience and outcomes for our patients.

We abide by a Code of Patient Rights, ensuring proper standards are adhered to with respect and fair treatment by listening and recognising your need for dignity, independence, information, support and decision making. We welcome all complaints.

PRIVACY STATEMENT

We are committed to providing quality healthcare for our patients. As a fundamental part of this commitment, we recognise the importance of ensuring that our patients are fully informed and involved in their healthcare.

As a healthcare provider in the private sector, we are bound by the HEALTH INFORMATION PRIVACY CODE 2020.
This code sets the standards by which we handle personal information collected from our patients. Further information is available online from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

By accepting health care services from us, you agree we can collect information about you from other agencies for the purpose of maintaining an up-to-date health record and providing safe and quality primary health care. This may include:

From other health providers and shared health records:

Receipt of laboratory, radiology or other results

Accessing authorised national or regional health information systems to support your care by checking your medical history, laboratory or radiology results and current prescribing

Receipt of correspondence from hospitals, emergency departments, after-hours providers, specialist services, allied health providers or other secondary and community care providers – including discharge summaries, outpatient or specialist letters

Proactively contacting a hospital or specialist service to follow up on a referral or seek advice or an update on your care, where that contact results in information about you being shared with us

Receipt of letters from screening programs (such as bowel, breast or cervical screening), including results, or notifications regarding attendance or non-attendance

From non-health agencies and organisations

Contact from or correspondence with Police, legal representatives, Oranga Tamariki, insurance companies, Ministry of Social Development (Work and Income New Zealand) and the Accident Compensation Corporation

Receipt of correspondence from employers, regarding, for example, fitness to work

Information from the New Zealand Police regarding firearms licences

Complaints

If concerns are raised about the care or services we provide, we may disclose relevant health information to our regulators, insurers, indemnity providers, or legal advisers for the purpose of managing and responding to the concerns.

As part of our commitment to providing quality health care it is necessary for us to maintain records pertaining to your medical treatment, the provision of advice to you and also to perform administrative functions including record keeping, confirming eligibility for funding/insurance, invoicing and processing of claims/payments. If you do not provide us with the information requested we may not be able to provide you with medical treatment and advice.

Our records may contain, but are not limited to, the following types of information:

• Your personal details (e.g. your name, address, date of birth, NHI number etc.) Names and contact information of people who are your emergency contacts.
• Your medical history, including clinical and administrative notes made during the course of consultations or treatment. Digital images taken during your consultation or treatment
• Referrals to other health service providers
• Test results and reports received from or sent to other health service providers involved with your care. Payor related details and financial transactions.

Your records are handled with the utmost respect for your privacy. They will be used by your specialist as part of providing your care. Administration and clinical staff will also handle your medical records as part of their day-to-day responsibilities. All staff are bound by confidentiality requirements as a condition of their employment and these requirements will be adhered to if it is necessary for them to review your records.

Correspondence with yourself and other parties involved with your care, may involve the use of digital communication methods instead of printed material. Where possible any digital correspondence will be strongly encrypted so that the content cannot be understood if intercepted.

At times, for business-related purposes, it may also be necessary to allow external organisations to access our facility and possibly to have restricted access to your records. Any external organisation that provides services or advice to us will be aware of the need to preserve the requirement of the Privacy Act and will be bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Ordinarily we will not release the contents of your medical file without your consent. However, we advise that there may be occasions where we will be required to release the details of your file irrespective of whether your consent to the disclosure of the information is given. This will occur where the law requires disclosure, such as pursuant or subpoena.
We advise, that as a patient, you have the right of access to any information we hold concerning you and also to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. Should you wish to access this information please discuss this with your specialist