Enrol with WeCare

CareNow – Fast and affordable Quick Consults for common conditions. See CareNow section of website for a full menu of what we can treat. 

MedDirect – Hassle-free annual medication renewal service. Medication arranged by us and delivered to your door throughout the year (at no additional cost) by a participating pharmacy 

Drop-inCare – Same day, drop-in acute care clinics for anything that just can’t wait. See our team of on-duty mixed clinicians with no appointment required. 

GenralPractice - Comprehensive medical consultations with your preferred Advanced Clinician. Book your consult at your preferred time and location and choose your clinician.

WeCare Wigram

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 8am – 6pm | Saturday – Sunday 9am – 3pm

• CareNow
• MedDirect
• Drop-inCare
• GeneralPractice medical consults

WeCare Lincoln

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

• CareNow
• MedDirect
• Drop-inCare
• GeneralPractice medical consults

WeCare Ilam

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

• CareNow
• MedDirect
• GeneralPractice medical consults

WeCare|Now Riccarton

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm

• CareNow
• MedDirect

WeCare provides free access to our patient portal Manage My Health (MMH). We encourage patients to use our patient portal for:

• Appointment booking
• Requesting repeat prescriptions (lower fees apply for MMH requests)
• Checking results
• Sending & receiving messages with our team

On enrolment, you will be signed up free to MMH. You should receive an email to complete your registration. By completing your registration and signing up to MMH you consent to the use of this patient portal including viewing your results via MMH.

General Practice provides comprehensive primary, community-based and continuing patient-centred healthcare to patients enrolled with them and others who consult. General Practice services include the diagnosis, management and treatment of health conditions, continuity of healthcare throughout the lifespan, health promotion, prevention, screening and referral to hospital and specialists.

WeCare offers a range of comprehensive primary care services to our enrolled patients covering both simple and comprehensive care options for your medical needs. Please see our website for comprehensive information on the services we offer.

Enrolling with WeCare will give you access to our full range of service options including our drop-in same day Acute Care clinics and our revolutionary affordable medication renewal service MedDirect. You will also pay a lower fee for WeCare services than those who are not enrolled and under 14 years olds’ consultations and WeCareNow quick consults will be free. Enrolled patients can use our services at any WeCare clinic. Enrolled patients also get free access to our patient portal.

Enrolling with a General Practice is free and voluntary. If you choose not to enrol you can still receive health services from a General Practice / provider of First Level primary health care services who has space to see casual patients. Advantages of enrolling are that your consultations will be cheaper, and you will have direct access to a range of services linked to the PHO.

Primary Health Organisations are the local structures for delivering and co-ordinating primary healthcare services. PHOs bring together general practice clinicians and other health professionals (such as Māori health workers, health promoters, dieticians, pharmacists, physiotherapists, mental health workers and midwives) in the community to serve the needs of their enrolled populations. PHOs receive a set amount of funding from the government to ensure the provision of a range of health services. Funding is based on the people enrolled with the PHO and their characteristics (e.g. age, gender and ethnicity.) Funding also pays for services that help people stay healthy and services that reach out to groups in the community who are missing out on health services or who have poor health.

WeCare is affiliated to the Pegasus Health PHO. Pegasus Health provides PHO services, and its fund-holding role allows an extended range of services to be provided across the collective of providers. Additionally, Pegasus Health provides clinical governance, quality and education support to its members.

You can go to another General Practice or change to a new General Practice at any time. If you are enrolled with one General Practice and visit another Practice as a casual patient you will pay a higher fee for that visit.

If you have not received services from your General Practice in a 3-year period, it is likely that the Practice will contact you and ask if you wish to remain with the Practice. If you are not able to be contacted or do not respond, your name will be taken off the Practice and PHO Enrolment Registers. This means you will no longer be eligible for the benefits allocated to an enrolled patient. You can re-enrol with the same General Practice or another General at a later time.

Your privacy and confidentiality will be fully respected. This fact sheet sets out why we collect your information and how that information will be used.

Purpose

We collect your health information to provide a record of care. This helps you receive quality treatment and care when you need it. We also collect your health information to help:

• Keep you and others safe
• Plan and fund health services
• Carry out authorised research
• Prepare & publish statistics
• Train healthcare professionals
• Improve government services.

Confidentiality and information sharing

• Your privacy and the confidentiality of your information is really important to us.
• Your health practitioner will record relevant information from your consultation in your notes.
• Your health information will be shared with others involved in your healthcare and with other agencies with your consent, or if authorised by law.
• You don’t have to share your health information, however, withholding it may affect the quality of care you receive. Talk to your health practitioner if you have any concerns.
• You have the right to know where your information is kept, who has access rights, and, if the system has audit log capability, who has viewed or updated your information.
• Your information will be kept securely to prevent unauthorised access.

Information quality

We are required to keep your information accurate, up-to-date and relevant for your treatment and care.

Right to access and correct

• You have the right to access and correct your health information.
• You have the right to see and request a copy of your health information. You don’t have to explain why you’re requesting that information but may be required to provide proof of your identity. If you request a second copy of that information within 12 months, you may have to pay an administration fee.
• You can ask for health information about you to be corrected. Practice staff should provide you with reasonable assistance. If your healthcare provider chooses not to change that information, you can have this noted on your file. Many practices now offer a patient portal, which allows you to view some of your practice health records online.

Use of your health information

Below are some examples of how your health information is used.

• If your practice is contracted to a Primary Health Organisation (PHO), the PHO may use your information for clinical and administrative purposes including obtaining subsidised funding for you.
• Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand uses your information to provide treatment, care, and to improve the quality of its services.
• A clinical audit may be conducted by a qualified health practitioner to review the quality of services provided to you. They may also view health records if the audit involves checking on health matters.
• When you choose to register in a health programme (e.g. immunisation or breast screening), relevant information may be shared with other health agencies.
• Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health uses your demographic information to assign a unique number to you on the National Health Index (NHI). This NHI number will help identify you when you use health services.
• Manatū Hauora | Ministry of Health holds health information to measure how well health services are delivered and to plan and fund future health services. Auditors may occasionally conduct financial audits of your health practitioner. The auditors may review your records and may contact you to check that you received those services.
• Notification of births and deaths to the Births, Deaths and Marriages register may be performed electronically to streamline a person’s interactions with government

Research

• Your health information may be used in research approved by an ethics committee or when it has had identifying details removed.
• Research which may directly or indirectly identify you can only be published if the researcher has previously obtained your consent and the study has received ethics approval.
• Under the law, you are not required to give consent to the use of your health information if it is for unpublished research or statistical purposes, or if it is published in a way that does not identify you.

Complaints

It is okay to complain if you are not happy with the way your health information is collected or used. Talk to your healthcare provider in the first instance. If you are still unhappy with the response you can call the Office of the Privacy Commissioner toll-free on 0800 803 909, and they can investigate this further.

For further information

• Visit legislation.govt.nz to access the Health Act 1956, Official Information Act 1982 and Privacy Act 2020.
• The Health Information Privacy Code 2020 is available at privacy.org.nz You can also use the Privacy Commissioner’s Ask Us tool for privacy queries.
• For further information Visit www.legislation.govt.nz to access the Health Act 1956, Official Information Act 1982 and Privacy Act 1993.
• A copy of the Health and Disability Committee’s Standard Operating procedures can be found at http://ethics.health.govt.nz/operatingprocedures
• Further detail in regard to the matters discussed in this Fact Sheet can be found on the Ministry of Health website at http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/sharing-your-health-information