A centre of excellence in primary healthcare is opening its books to new patients in the city this year – a result of many years’ work to provide leading care to accommodate Tauranga’s burgeoning population.

Fifth Avenue Family Practice has geared up to become the Western Bay’s leading light in recent years.

Today the practice has more than 17 doctors – many experts in sub-specialty fields – and sets the new national gold standard model of care known as Health Care Home, covering all wellbeing needs of patients from health coaching to diabetes management.

Fifth Avenue Family Practice GP partner Dr Luke Bradford – also medical director of the New Zealand College of GPs – explains the practice’s focus is on a holistic, whole-person approach to health that’s preventative and empowers individuals to take charge of their own health through knowledge and support.

“This comes from getting to know patients over the long term and having a multidisciplinary team and comprehensive range of services from counselling through health coaching to diabetes management," says Luke.

"Gone are the days of going to the GP only when you’re sick.

"We now look much more holistically at our patients’ needs and support their entire wellbeing journey.”

Moves to become a centre of excellence in primary healthcare for Tauranga started before Covid, but when borders shut staff couldn’t be recruited.

Since then, plans are back on track.

Open books 

Recently recruiting three doctors will provide for future growth and the influx of new residents to town.

It’s estimated up to 20 per cent of the population can’t or haven’t been able to find a doctor, says Luke.

“We see there’s a real need to be forward-looking, to have the foresight and commitment to build in capacity and grow ahead of the population curve, so we can serve the city with superb care across all primary healthcare disciplines.

 “Now we’re able to open our books to new patients, we’re part of the solution.

"It’s the result of a lot of hard work and enthusiasm from our team to be the best we can be.

"And this is just the beginning.”

Luke says when you maintain continuity of care with the same GP over time, there’s good evidence mortality, hospitalisation and after-hours care are all reduced.

But practices need to have systems and models of care in place to make it convenient and easy to access advice and wellbeing services to improve overall outcomes over time, says Luke.

“We all know when you need a doctor, you need a doctor.

"Our model of care ensures we can see patients on the same day and we can be nimble to accommodate the busy lives of all our patients.”

This is partly due to being fully digitalised, where patients can book appointments, request prescriptions, see notes, and message their doctor through a portal.

This means care can be flexible – both in person and virtually once the doctor knows the patient and vice versa.

Luke says it’s also due to a full specialist, multi-disciplinary service offering.

Dr Luke Bradford and Dr Diana Ford. Photo: John Borren.

Specialised services include skin checks and skin cancer management and surgery, appearance medicine, travel medicine, ACC and skeletal claims, an MRI requesting service, long-term health conditions teams who can walk alongside patients to manage chronic concerns, and health coaches who can empower and support patients to achieve wellness goals such as weight loss and smoking cessation.

“We have a fully qualified and experienced counsellor in-house too, as well as nurse practitioners and clinical pharmacists who work with patients on medicine alignment.”

A new service to Fifth Avenue Family Practice is via Luke’s wife Dr Diana Ford, a GP specialist with extended scope within women’s health.

She’ll offer dedicated weekly clinics for women to discuss female health such as gynaecological issues and menopause.

“These clinics and speciality areas within our team mean we can offer a really great experience to our patients that’s targeted to their needs,” says Luke.

Fifth Avenue Family Practice is open six days; Monday-Friday from 8am-6pm, and has an acute clinic Saturdays 8.30am to 11.30am.

There’s always two clinics running for respiratory and infectious symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, runny noses and sore throats; and another for acute conditions needing short-term treatment for a severe injury, illness, urgent medical conditions, or for those recovering from surgery.

Phone triaging systems and the portal system mean patients can easily access the care they need and be rest assured knowing if they need to see a doctor, they’ll usually be seen the day they make contact.

“We can also better protect our vulnerable population by streaming patients, understanding early on what’s needed, how the patient wants to connect – whether that’s phone, message, or in-person – and keeping infectious disease clinics separate.

“All of these measures also reduce waiting times and create convenience for our patients,” says Luke.