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Public Service

Auckland DHB General Medicine

Description

What is General Medicine?
General Medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of diseases affecting the internal organs of the body in adults.
 
Specialists in this field are called specialist general physicians. They are doctors who have trained in various specialties such as diseases of the heart, lungs, brain and other organs. Often people have more than one part of the body involved in an illness or the exact cause of symptoms is not clear.  The General Physician is an expert in diagnosing what is wrong and managing illnesses that are complex.
 
General Medicine at Auckland City Hospital sees approximately 13,000 patients every year.
 
The General Medical Team
This consists of the consultant (the specialist general physician), the registrar (a doctor who is training to be a specialist) and a house officer (a doctor in training who is more junior than the registrar but is a qualified doctor). Sometimes, as part of the team, there are trainee interns who are medical students who have yet to pass their final exam but are gaining practical experience. More junior medical students may also accompany this team.  
 
The outpatient service is provided by our consultants and registrars within our outpatient clinics on Level 6 of the Support Building. Click here for directions to the outpatient clinics. The doctor will examine you and ask questions about your symptoms, previous illnesses, medications, and your situation, to get helpful information to diagnose what is causing the illness. The doctor will refer you to other specialists and for tests or treatments as needed.
 
The inpatient service is provided by our four wards – Ward 65, 66, 67 and 68 located on Level 6 of Auckland City Hospital. Each ward has a charge nurse who is responsible for the patient care in the ward.
Inpatient service is provided to patients who:
  • require treatment that cannot be undertaken at home (this may include medication given into a vein, "IV drip")
  • need investigations that are best carried out while staying in hospital
  • are too unwell to manage at home. 

Procedures / Treatments

  • Inpatient service

    If you suddenly become unwell and need to be admitted to hospital with a medical rather than a surgical problem, you will most likely be seen by the General Medical team (see above).… More

  • Outpatient service

    If your GP wants advice about the diagnosis or management of an illness, he/she may refer you to this clinic. Your referral is given priority depending on the information in the referral letter. It is important that, if your condition worsens while waiting to be seen, you revisit your GP… More

Charges

New Zealand citizens or people who have obtained permanent residence are entitled to free health care.
Persons not ordinarily resident in New Zealand will be required to pay the full cost of their treatment. If you are a Non New Zealand Resident, or not born in New Zealand, please bring your passport to your appointment.

Document Downloads

Note: PDF downloads require the free Adobe Reader application to view.

Consultants

Dr Janet Ballantyne
Physician
Associate Professor Geoff Braatvedt
Physician
Dr Simon Briggs
Physician
Dr Stephen Child
Physician
Professor Tim Cundy
Physician
Dr Matt Dawes
Physician
Dr Will Dransfield
Physician
Dr John Henley
Physician
Dr Cheri Hotu
Physician
Dr Christopher Kenedi
Physician
Dr Manish Khanolkar
Physician
Dr Vaughan Lock
MOSS
Dr Diana McNeill
Physician
Dr Oliver Menzies
Physician
Dr Terry Mitchell
Physician
Dr Arthur Nahill
Physician
Dr Robyn North
Physician
Dr Phillippa Poole
Physician
Dr Paul Sexton
Physician
Dr Nassar Sheikh
Physician
Dr David Spriggs
Physician, Clinical Director
Dr Nicholas Szecket
Physician
Dr Johan Van Schalkwyk
Physician
Dr Lucille Wilkinson
Physician
Dr Robert Young
Physician

Visiting Hours

Visiting hours in General Medicine are from 11am – 1pm, and then 3pm – 8pm. Please do not visit outside these times unless you have discussed it with the charge nurse. Our patients are often very unwell and we try and give them an opportunity to rest between 1pm and 3pm. While your relative may be happy to be disturbed at this time other patients within the ward require a rest period.
 
There is a maximum of two visitors at a time at the bedside.
Whanau/family rooms are available on each ward, except during the busy winter months. We ask that visitors are considerate of other patients and keep noise levels low when visiting and supervise children at all times. Unwell visitors or young children should refrain from visiting. In special circumstances one visitor may stay overnight, usually in the whanau/family room, after discussion with the charge nurse.
 
There is a seating area on Level 6 outside the chapel/quiet room if your family would like to meet there.

Refreshments

Tea and coffee making facilities are available for patients on the ward and you are welcome to help yourself.

Security

If you are being admitted to hospital do not bring valuables with you. While we do our best to keep your possessions safe you will need to be responsible for looking after them.
If you arrive in hospital acutely we strongly recommend you either send valuables home with a relative or friend or ask the nurses to have them locked away with the cashier.
We are unable to take responsibility for 'lost' or damaged items.

Website

www.adhb.govt.nz

Other

Inpatients
Approximate meal times
Breakfast usually arrives between 8 and 8.30 am, lunch is usually delivered between midday – 1pm, and dinner between 5.30pm – 6.30pm. There is a tea and coffee service at set times throughout the day.
 
Telephone use
Unfortunately a telephone may not always be available. We ask that ward calls are kept short because the hospital is charged business rates. There are public pay phones available outside the wards. The mornings are a particularly busy time so if possible try and call after lunch when the ward is a little more settled.


AUCKLAND INAUGURAL GENERAL MEDICINE NURSING CONFERENCE 2009
Tena koutou katoa.

Welcome to the Inaugural General Medicine Nursing Conference information site on Healthpoint. A big thank you to all the delegates who attended, without you there would be no conference. It was a great chance to network, share ideas and catch up with old friends or colleagues. 

We believe this conference was a first for NZ being both General Medicine Nursing and managing long term conditions. It was held in the Clinical Education Centre here at Auckland City Hospital with approximately 120 delegates attending from around the country. There were a multitude of speakers discussing ways to move forward in the management of Long Term Conditions, the likes of which nurses are very familiar with, and see on a daily basis. It was great to hear and see how well nursing is responding to this challenge, coming up with innovative ways in which to address the issues of managing long term conditions.

Chronic Disease Management must be in the forefront of our minds. Promotion of self management and goal setting for this population group through dialogue, effective planning and education is paramount.

We hope you took away some information, methods or ideas of interest to apply to your practice when caring for this patient population.

Perhaps at the next conference you may even like to present what you have implemented.

Until the next conference. Noho ora mai.

Please see below the list of presenters and their presentations:

Yvette Baker, Stroke Service Transient Ischaemic Attack: Mountain or molehill?
Diane Hart, Respiratory

Making a Difference as a Nurse Practitioner in Respiratory
Sandra Speedy / Chrissy Taylor, Renal Service Chronic Kidney Disease - Nurse Specialist Role
Lucy Meldrum, Palliative Care Liverpool Pathway Care Programme
Michele Lowe, Community HIV Team HIV and the Family Clinic
Christine Nicholas, Piki Te Ora Nursing Service Piki Te Ora Nursing Service
Jan Black, Diabetes COMING: Diabetes is Not Just Obesity
Jenny Littlewood, Practice Nurse Making the Difference
Chloe Eatson / Lisa Inman-Emery, Community Rehab Team Community Rehab Team
Jane Hannah, Heart Failure End Stage Heart Failure
Sonja Karon, Gerontology Managing Incontinence Within Chronic Diseases
Kate McCallum, TARPS – Chronic Pain Keeping the Patient Safe During Relaxation
Dr John Henley, General Physician COMING:  Generalism to the Fore - A shared passion
Dr David Spriggs, Clinical Director, General  Medicine Why Birthdays are Good for You – A Review of Ageing
Hilda Fa’asalele, Pacific Health COMING: The Parish Community Nurse
Karyn Scott, Admission Planning Unit Chronic Illness in the Acute Care Setting
Denise Thatcher, A+Links Home Health Community Transition for Older People
Jan Marshall, Smokefree The Elephant and ABC. A Smoking Tale
Anna Day, Infection Control Norovirus and its Effects
Joanne Agnew, Lecturer, School of Nursing, Auckland University Passion of Nursing

Location Information

Contact Details

Phone (09) 367 0000 or (09) 375 4300 for patient enquiries.

 
Outpatients can confirm their appointment through the Contact Centre:




Phone:  (09) 638 0400 or
0800 728 436 (if you live outside of Auckland)
7:00am - 10:30pm weekdays
8:00am – 6:00pm weekends

Fax: (09) 638 0403

Street Address

Park Road
Grafton
Auckland 1023

Postal Address

Private Bag 92 024
Auckland Mail Centre
Auckland 1142

Map & more information

Click here for a map and more information about this location.