General practice teams
Everyone should sign up (enrol) with a general practice to get help with all their health needs. General practices have many different names. For example, medical centres, health centres, clinics and surgeries.
Unless it is an emergency (when you should call 111), your general practice should be your first point of contact for health advice and care.
If you or someone in your whānau (family) is sick, make your general practice your first call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Even after hours a nurse is available to give free health advice. Just phone your usual general practice number. The nurse will be able to offer advice or suggest you attend an after-hours clinic or emergency department.
If you need help finding a general practice near you, you can find one here.
General practice teams
General practice teams vary between general practices. They normally include the following team members:
- GPs – Qualified doctors trained in general practice.
- Practice nurses – Registered nurses providing nursing care, delivering treatment and giving advice.
- Administration staff – Booking appointments, following up and helping the medical staff.
They may also include some of the following team members:
What general practice teams do
- Provide treatment when you are unwell.
- Provide treatment and health advice for long-term conditions.
- Treat injuries.
- Help with wellbeing and mental health conditions.
- Prescribe medicines and give injections.
- Perform minor surgery.
- Refer you to other health professionals when necessary and work with them to look after you.
- Give lifestyle advice to help keep you well.
- Give immunisations.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed September 2024.
Sources
The information in this section comes from the following sources, some of which may be clinically complex or not available to the general public
Ministry of Health – Patient portals (https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/digital-health/other-digital-health-initiatives/patient-portals), retrieved July 2021.
New Zealand Telehealth forum and research centre. Retrieved April 2020.
NHS – Using online consultations In primary care. Retrieved April 2020.
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners – What is general practice? (https://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/RNZCGP/I_m_a_Patient/What_is_general_practice/RNZCGP/Im_a_patient/
What_is_general_practice.aspx), retrieved January 2017.
Image and embedded video sources
Image of a doctor greeting a female patient from Shutterstock (image ID 426626008). September 2023.
Image of a GP examining a child from Shutterstock (image ID 98508353). January 2017.
Image of a health professional giving a patient a virtual consultation from Shutterstock (image ID 589609640). April 2020.
Image of a man looking at a patient portal on a tablet (image ID 1667533894). November 2022.
Image of a nurse talking to a child and parent from Shutterstock (image ID 98521118) August 2016.
Image of a patient at a general practice from Shutterstock (image ID 1056498500). June 2022.
Image of an Asian doctor talking to a patient from hyena reality at FreeDigitalPhotos. November 2014.
Image showing how to take a photo for telehealth from Shutterstock (image IDs 550794373 and 748595458). May 2020.
Page reference: 132164
Review key: HIGPS-132164