Terms and Conditions

Within these terms and conditions we have the following policies:

Prescribing Policy
Cancelling and Re-Scheduling Appointment Policy
Feedback and Complaints
Privacy and Security Policy

We may review these terms and conditions and policies from time to time and will post an updated version on our website. These are last updated at November 2021.

In delivering virtual appointments Practice Plus will comply with all relevant statutory requirements, including but not exclusive to the following:

Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCA Act)
Health and Disability Commissioner (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights) Regulations 1994
Medicines Act 1981 and associated regulations
Health Act 1956
ACC Act 2001
The Privacy Act 2020
Health Information Privacy Code 2020
HISO Health Information Security Framework Standard 2015
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

All our health practitioners will adhere to the same required standards as for an in-person health service for their specific registration body (Medical, Nursing or other).

While the required standards for documentation are the same for in-person and telehealth/virtual appointments (a clear and concise clinical record recorded in the PMS), virtual appointments promote compliance with a higher standard:

as Clinicians may be unable to provide advice to the same standard as an in-person consultation;
During your virtual appointment, a Practice Plus Clinician may advise they are unable to provide advice virtually for some medical conditions; and
You may still require an in-person consultation following your virtual consultation. A Practice Plus Clinician will recommend you see your regular Clinician for a physical examination or they may recommend a Clinician in your area. It is the patients responsibility to get this treatment.

Privacy and confidentiality remain important aspects of Practice Plus as patient information is collected, stored and transferred and therefore covered by the Privacy Act 2020and Health Information Privacy Code 2020. See the Privacy and Security Policy

The Medical Council of New Zealand states that practitioners providing care from New Zealand to patients in another country are subject to New Zealand law in areas such as prescribing and may also be subject to other legal obligations, requirements or liabilities in the location where the patient is. For this reason Practice Plus will only be providing a service with patients that are currently in New Zealand.

Practice Plus reserves the right to discontinue the provision of advice, or the prescribing or delivery of medication to you at any time without prior notice or reason. We agree you may also change your mind and stop your virtual consultation at any time without prior notice or reason. Please also refer to our Cancellation and Refund Policy

Practice Plus may withdraw, suspend or discontinue any of its services to you at any time without prior notice or reason.

Consumer Responsibilities of Using Practice Plus:

Security

You are responsible for keeping your account secure; ensuring that your account or user details relating to your Practice Plus account (including but not exclusive to any login, username, password, PIN or bank account) are kept confidential and not disclosed. This includes all communication with a Practice Plus Clinician during your telehealth/virtual appointment.

Please let us know at help@practiceplus.nz as soon as possible if you think someone is making or might make unauthorised use of your account or user details.

Eligibility to use Practice Plus and To Book an Appointment

For under 16-year-olds parents and guardians can book appointments for their minors. Just enter their name and date of birth as well as the preferred parent/guardian contact details as part of the booking process.

Adults 16 years or over must book their own appointments for themselves, unless you are someone’s carer and/or have Power of Attorney over their affairs.

As a young adult you may specifically ask us not to share your health care information with your parents and/or guardians. To respect your confidentiality and best interests we will assess these requests on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the Health Information Privacy Code

During the Consultation with a Practice Plus Clinician

To confirm proof of your identity, we may ask to view and check an identity document before the appointment starts such as your drivers licence.
You must not record or have another person record or take photographs of your virtual appointment without the written permission of the Practice Plus Clinician. The Practice Plus Clinician will not be recording the appointment.
Technical problems of any kind can occur during the virtual appointment. If this happens the Practice Plus Clinician will be required to complete the consultation over the telephone. Please refer to our Cancellation and Refund Policy.
If you have used another person’s credit or debit card or payment details without their permission or knowledge, we may disclose information relating to the transaction to that person, law enforcement agencies or their bank.
You may not use the Practice Plus service to make unauthorised or fraudulent bookings or to disturb the use of the Practice Plus service or website.
Access to and use of Practice Plus services is at your own risk. Except as explicitly outlined in the Practice Plus terms and conditions, we exclude all representations, conditions and warranties whether express or implied (by statute or otherwise) to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Subject to the Fair Trading Act 1986 and Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, but otherwise to the extent permitted by law, Practice Plus is not liable for any loss or damage arising out of, or in connection with the use of Practice Plus services (whether it is direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise).

Informed Consent

Practice Plus will adhere to the New Zealand Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights. This includes but is not limited to informing patients about the provision of virtual/telehealth services, explaining clearly our scope of practice, and seeking the patient’s consent before a service is provided

Further key requirements in virtual appointments is that:
- Patients must also be informed about, and provide consent to, the use of a virtual/telehealth service and be fully informed of any related limitations, as well as alternative service options prior to any appointment taking place. Limitations include the limits of confidentiality in electronic communication, the potential for technical failure, and the conditions under which telemedicine services may be terminated and the referral made to in-person care; and
- The patient’s identity must be verified.
In cases where the patient is not competent and does not have the capacity to give consent, consent should be obtained in the same way as in an in-person appointment. The practitioner may have to arrange for consent to be given by a family member or friend who has the requisite legal authority (for example, enduring power of attorney or welfare guardian or parent of a child under 16 years of age) to give consent on the patient’s behalf.
With respect to privacy, the same steps should be taken in virtual appointments as would occur for in-person appointments. The health practitioner should take care if other people are in attendance, in terms of what personal and health information is disclosed. For in-person appointments, a health practitioner can ask other people to leave the room, but for virtual appointments, this is more challenging. Consideration should be given to this as virtual appointments proceed, with the health practitioner determining who is entitled to receive certain information in the circumstances.
Informed consent needs to be documented in the clinical records, verbal is sufficient.

Indemnity

You agree to release Practice Plus from any claims that you may have against Practice Plus and will at all times indemnify Practice Plus against all proceedings, actions, claims or demands made by any person whether for personal injury, (including death and disability) or otherwise and whether occasioned by negligence, breach of a statutory duty, tort, equity, breach of contract or otherwise suffered as a result of or in connection with you using Practice Plus services.
By clicking ‘I agree’ you accept these terms and conditions outlined on the Practice Plus website.
If we have reason to believe that you may have breached these terms and conditions, we may restrict or stop you accessing Practice Plus services.

If you have any questions or concerns Please see the Feedback and Complaints Policy

Prescription Policy

Can I get a prescription through Practice Plus?

Yes, if you need a prescription, your Practice Plus Clinician will securely send your prescription directly to your selected pharmacy electronically, through the NZ ePrescription Service.

There may be some circumstances when we are unable to provide a prescription for a medication in a virtual appointment due to New Zealand law and regulations. Please see the Prescription terms and conditions for more detail.

What if I need a repeat prescription?

Depending on your condition and medication, you may need to see your enrolled Clinician before receiving a new or repeat prescription. This will be at the clinical discretion of the Practice Plus Clinician.

For an ongoing stable long-term condition, a Practice Plus Clinician would only give a repeat once for 3 months and you would be required to see your enrolled Clinician in person after that period for a full assessment.

Controlled medications

Practice Plus is unable to provide certain controlled medications, even if they are “repeats” for ongoing conditions. Medications unable to be accessed through Practice Plus include morphine and morphine derivatives. You will need to see your usual enrolled Clinician as they have an ongoing relationship with you and can monitor your ongoing health needs.

If you require short term treatment of a controlled medication, the Practice Plus clinician may give only a short prescription for a few days, but only if clinically indicated. If you require a repeat of long-term controlled medications, the clinician may be able to give this, providing they have access to your prescribing history and medical notes, but this is up to the clinician’s discretion at the time of the consult.

Further Information

As part of your registration and use of Practice Plus, you agree that any product, medicine or medication that a Practice Plus Clinician prescribes you will be solely used for your own personal use.

Additionally, you will not allow any other person to take, use or have access to that medication. If medication is provided or delivered, you will only take that medication in conjunction with any other medication that you have already disclosed to a Practice Plus Clinician prior to the issuing of the prescription.

Before taking any medication prescribed to you, you will read all information provided to you by the Practice Plus Clinician, the dispensing Pharmacist or by the manufacturer of the product and will follow that advice. If there is any conflict between the advice provided by a Practice Plus Clinician and the manufacturer of the product or the pharmacist, you must contact a Practice Plus Clinician before taking the medication.

If while taking medication, you suffer any noticeable side effects that are causing you concern, we recommend you seek advice from a health professional. This could mean re-booking an appointment with a Practice Plus Clinician or your usual Clinician or Pharmacist, to allow them to monitor the effect of the medications prescribed to you.

Any emails or prescriptions are intended to be only read by the named recipient as they contain information which is confidential.

For urgent care or severe side-effects dial 111 and ask for an ambulance.

Drug Seeking Behaviour

IF WE THINK YOU ARE A DRUG SEEKER

We may share information about your drug seeking with other providers in our network and other relevant agencies.

This may include, but is not limited to:

Other GP Practices
Pharmacies
Districts / Te Whatu Ora
Ministry of Health / Health NZ
Primary Health Organisations
Other National Telehealth Providers

Organisations who can help:

Alcohol Drug Helpline http://alcoholdrughelp.org.nz/
Alcohol Drug Helpline telephone 0800 787 797
Free TXT adh to 234
Narcotics Anonymous NZ – http://www.nzna.org/

Cancelling and Re-Scheduling Appointment Policy:

We understand that everyone’s time is valuable; so you can cancel or re-schedule a virtual appointment but it must be less than six hours of your scheduled appointment time so that the Clinicians time can be re-utilised due to the high service demands.

If you wish to cancel, please email help@practiceplus.nz. Please note that if you wish to cancel less than 6 hours prior to your scheduled appointment you will not be eligible for a refund and will be required to pay the full virtual appointment fee as applicable. To make a new time for your appointment please re-schedule by visiting www.practiceplus.nz.
If you fail to present for your appointment more than 5 minutes after the scheduled appointment time you will be considered as a cancellation and you will not be eligible for a refund.
In the event you’ve made a future booking and the Practice Plus Clinician you have booked is unable to attend the virtual consultation for any reason, we will send you an email re-assigning you a new appointment time for your virtual consultation.

If you have booked an appointment to ‘See a Clinician now’:

You will receive an appointment with the next available Clinician so there is no time allowance for you to cancel or change your appointment, as the Clinician time has already been allocated.
If during the virtual appointment, the Practice Plus Clinician agrees with you that you need to be seen in-person with a Clinician you will still be charged for the full virtual appointment fee. The in-person appointment will be a new appointment for which you’ll need to pay the Clinician directly.
Even if during the course of a virtual appointment, you decide to stop your virtual appointment you will still be charged the full virtual appointment fee.
If during the course of a virtual appointment, a Practice Plus Clinician decides to discontinue the appointment for any reason you will still be charged the full virtual appointment fee.
You will not be charged any appointment fee in circumstances where the Clinician has to discontinue the appointment in the event of an emergency.
Sickness, personal emergent circumstances and other unforeseen events can lead to a Practice Plus Clinician not being available to attend an appointment; then you will not be charged any appointment fee. If you still wish to see a Clinician, you will need to make a new appointment time. If the video technology fails and the Clinician converts the appointment to a telephone call you will still be expected to pay the full appointment fee.
The rapport between a patient and a Provider could breakdown during the course of a appointment owing to a variety of factors, including demands for controlled medications, unrealistic patient expectations or interpersonal differences. In the unlikely event of a breakdown in the rapport between the patient and the Clinician during the course of a virtual appointment, the Provider will gently inform the patient of the need to terminate the appointment. For terminated appointments, fees paid by the patient will not be refunded.
You will not be entitled to a refund in any circumstances unless otherwise stated in this policy and will be charged the full appointment fee if you cancel your appointment less than six hours to your scheduled appointment or you don’t turn up for your appointment.
The decision to refund any monies would only be at the discretion of the Senior Management team.
We appreciate your support and acknowledgement around this policy. However if you would like to contact us in regards to a question around this policy please contact us at help@practiceplus.nz These will be reviewed by the management team and a timely response will be provided.

Please note these cancellation terms and conditions are the same when using a coupon to pay for the appointment.

Feedback and Complaints Policy

We would appreciate hearing your great feedback at support@practiceplus.nz as providing high quality care to you and your whānauis our top priority.

However if this has not been your experience speak with your Clinician during your appointment or we would like to hear about it as it helps us to learn from your experiences and improve our services.

How to raise a complaint

Step 1: Please provide as much detail as possible in your email and we recommend you do this at the time the issue takes place, so that we can resolve it with you as soon as possible.

Step 2: You can contact our support team using the contact details below. Please write “Complaint” in the subject line of your email.

Email: support@practiceplus.nz please include the following details:

Patient Name:

Your name (if different from above)

Date of appointment:

What Would You Like to Happen as a Result of Raising This Concern/Feedback? (Optional)

A contact phone number in case we need to contact you for more information

A clear description of what you want to complain about and when it happened

Provide any relevant correspondence

Step 3: The process from our end

A senior member of our team will contact you in writing to acknowledge we have received your complaint within 5 working days.

Within ten working days of the written acknowledgement, we will make decisions around the feedback/complaint including whether further time is required to investigate it. If this time is likely to be greater than twenty working days you will be notified of this.

After this time you will be advised as to the outcome of your feedback/complaint.

It is your right to be informed that at any time you may make a complaint to the Office of the Health & Disability Commissioner (HDC) by visiting https://www.hdc.org.nz or phone 0800 11 22 33.

If you are not satisfied with our actions, you can contact the Advocacy Service of the HDC for guidance, or complain to HDC. If you need some please feel free to call a health and disability advocate to assist you visit https://advocacy.org.nz/ or free-phone 0800 555 050.