The director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield yesterday (Thursday April 23) outlined the health and disability services that will be available next week under alert level three.

Hospitals will remain open for emergency care as they were for level four, but some planned care, including elective surgery and radiology, will also be provided from next week.

General practices will be open, and most appointments will still be conducted online or by phone where possible but people can still see a doctor or nurse face-to-face if required.

Community pharmacies will remain open and medicine management services will be provided over the phone where possible.

Dental services may provide face-to-face appointments for urgent or emergency care but routine dental care will not be available under alert level three.

Community midwives will continue to provide services in a variety of ways, including face-to-face and on-line appointments.

Appointments for services such as physiotherapy, podiatry and optometry will continue to be mainly online or over the phone. Some face-to-face appointments for those services may be provided for urgent appointments only, so long as professionals can take the appropriate measures to manage public health risks.

Disability residential care will continue as usual.

Community mental health service appointments will be online or by phone where possible – there may be some face-to-face appointments. Urgent and crisis mental health services will continue as usual, as will inpatient and residential mental health and addiction services, although there may be fewer beds available. 

There is a range of welfare, mental health and wellbeing programmes underway to provide support to New Zealanders. More information is available here.

PHOTO: Wanaka App