Sakina is a private clinic offering evidence-based, personalised and holistic care. We will treat patients with problems relating to vulvovaginal or genitourinary health, menopause and perimenopause. We will provide you with advice on symptoms and diagnosis. We will order comprehensive tests to tailor your treatment plan to your needs. Treatment options can include HRT medication, general lifestyle advice and non-hormonal medications. We will support you in choosing the most appropriate treatment pathway for your personal circumstances.

Services

Services are provided by video or by telephone.

Services are offered to women aged 18 and above who live in New Zealand. No emergency services are provided at the clinic and outside of your appointment time. All other medical matters should be directed to your GP, and all serious medical problems should be discussed urgently with your GP or the emergency services.

Booking an appointment

Patients can self-refer to the clinic.

Appointments can be booked online at www.sakina.co.nz

At the time of booking, all patients are required to register personal details. These are held securely in keeping with our Privacy Policy. You will also be required to pay a deposit of 50$ for your consult.

About your consultation

All patients attending the clinic for the first time are required to book an Initial Consultation, this is to allow adequate time for a full assessment of your medical needs and to enable the safe and effective delivery of care. Follow up care is recommended 6 weeks after initiation of treatment or following an alteration to treatment and is booked as a Follow Up Consultation. Email discussions are for existing patients only and are for the purposes of clarifying medication instructions or discussing the results of tests.

Appointment Durations

• Initial Consultation - 60 minutes

• Follow Up Consultation - 30 minutes.

Fees

The fee paid for a consultation includes the consultation, the written prescription issued in the consultation (but not the cost of any medication prescribed) and an email sent to you with your treatment plan. The writing of additional prescriptions, either new or repeat, that are issued outside of a consultation will incur an additional fee. Additional letters requested or issued outside of a consultation will incur a fee.

• Initial Consultation 375$ (including GST)

• Follow Up Consultation $190 (including GST)

• Repeat prescription $30

• Additional letter or email correspondence $60

Paying for your consultation or prescription

Payment can be made by most credit cards or electronic bank transfer; we do not accept cash or cheques. Card details must be provided at the point of booking a consultation and payment will be processed immediately. Payment processing services are provided by Stripe. All details provided by you are held by Stripe in keeping with their privacy policy https://stripe.com/gb/privacy. We do not store any of your payment card details on our system and can hold no liability for a data breach incurred by a third-party provider.

Confirmation of your booking

You will receive email confirmation of your booking. The email will contain a link to complete a New Patient registration questionnaire in advance of your appointment to provide information on your past medical history and medication. This must be completed prior to your attendance for consultation. The email will also contain a link to use to activate the video connection at the time of the consultation.

For the  consultation

You will need to use an appropriate device with access to the internet via a browser such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Please ensure you have your video and audio enabled, that you are in a private location and, to maintain confidentiality, that you are unlikely to be overheard.

What Happens if You Are Late?

If you know that you are going to be delayed, please notify the clinic by emailing: info@sakina.co.nz  If you are late, the doctor will wait for 10 minutes for your late arrival. Beyond this time, you will be deemed to have missed your appointment.

PLEASE NOTE that we are unable to offer any form of refund for a missed appointment and all fees paid will be forfeit. 

Cancellation Policy

If you need to cancel or rearrange your appointment, please provide us with 48 business hours’ notice. Please note this does not include weekends or bank holidays.  You can cancel your appointment by clicking on the cancellation link contained in the email confirmation of your appointment or by emailing: info@sakina.co.nz

If you cancel with more than 48 business hours’ notice you will receive a full refund back to the payment card. Stripe advises that refunds can take 5-10 working days to appear in your account. If you cancel or rearrange your appointment with less than 48 business hours’ notice or do not show for your appointment, the fees are non-refundable, regardless of circumstance.

Privacy and Personal Information

Your privacy is important to us. Any information provided by you will be held in keeping with our privacy policy.

Your personal medical information will be stored securely by our service provider, Cloud Appointments keeping with their privacy policy available at cloudappointments.co.nz

Basic appointment information such as your:

• Name

• Booking date/time

• Email address

• Appointment type and location

Will be stored in Cloud Firestore and accessed by our own in-house secure system.

Prescriptions

In order to prescribe medications,  it is necessary to share information with the pharmacy to enable the safe and effective delivery of care. You consent to the sharing of information for this purpose.

Prescriptions written and issued as part of a consultation carry no additional fee (excluding the cost of the medicines to be purchased). All prescriptions, new or repeat, issued outside of a consultation will incur a Prescription Fee. Payment of this fee is required in advance of the written prescription being issued.

In most circumstances, the prescription will be sent electronically to an online pharmacy. This service is provided as a courtesy. Sakina Holistic Health is not responsible for the supply and/or delivery of such prescribed medications. The supply and/or delivery of the medication is the responsibility of the pharmacy as third-party provider. Any disputes or concerns regarding the supply and/or delivery of medication should be addressed directly to the pharmacy concerned.

Services are provided in keeping with the terms and conditions of the pharmacy, a copy of which can be obtained by contacting the pharmacy direct. 

Communications

After each consultation you will be sent an email summarises the discussion, the management plan and the proposed follow up. You will receive this by email to the email address provided at registration. It is your responsibility to notify the clinic of a change in email address.

Email communication will be limited to the clarification of prescribing instructions or details of follow up requirements. No consultations will be conducted by email. If you have medical concerns regarding your symptoms or medication, you will be asked to book a Follow Up consultation.

Referrals

Onward referral for further investigation or management will be undertaken when clinically indicated. This will be to a service provider at a location close to you or as dictated by your private healthcare provider. A letter of referral will be provided to ensure that the relevant information is communicated.

Complaints Procedure

Sakina Holistic Health strives to deliver safe, effective care to you. If you are unhappy with the care that you have received, we welcome your feedback.  The complaints procedure is designed to make sure that complaints are investigated as quickly as possible. Complaints will be acknowledged within 2 working days. An initial investigation and response will be provided within 21 days of the date when it was raised. If for any reason we are unable to meet this timescale, the delay will be explained, and a revised date provided.

Privacy Policy

Your privacy and confidentiality will be fully respected. This fact sheet sets out why we collect your information and how that information will be used.

Purpose

We collect your health information to provide a record of care. This helps you receive quality treatment and care when you need it.

We also collect your health information to help:

• keep you and others safe

• plan and fund health services

• carry out authorised research

• train healthcare professionals

• prepare and publish statistics

• improve government services.

Confidentiality and information sharing

Your privacy and the confidentiality of your information is really important to us.

• Your health practitioner will record relevant information from your consultation in your notes.

• Your health information will be shared with others involved in your healthcare and with other agencies with your consent, or if authorised by law.

• You don’t have to share your health information, however, withholding it may affect the quality of care you receive. Talk to your health practitioner if you have any concerns.

• You have the right to know where your information is kept, who has access rights, and, if the system has audit log capability, who has viewed or updated your information.

• Your information will be kept securely to prevent unauthorised access.  

Information Quality

We’re required to keep your information accurate, up-to-date and relevant for your treatment and care.

Right to access and correct

You have the right to access and correct your health information.

• You have the right to see and request a copy of your health information. You don’t have to explain why you’re requesting that information, but may be required to provide proof of your identity. If you request a second copy of that information within 12 months, you may have to pay an administration fee.

• You can ask for health information about you to be corrected. If your healthcare provider chooses not to change that information, you can have this noted on your file.

Use of your health information

Below are some examples of how your health information is used.

• If your practice is contracted to a Primary Health Organisation (PHO), the PHO may use your information for clinical and administrative purposes including obtaining subsidised funding for you.

• Your District Health Board (DHB) uses your information to provide treatment and care, and to improve the quality of its services.

• A clinical audit may be conducted by a qualified health practitioner to review the quality of services provided to you. They may also view health records if the audit involves checking on health matters.

• When you choose to register in a health programme (eg immunisation or breast screening), relevant information may be shared with other health agencies.

• The Ministry of Health uses your demographic information to assign a unique number to you on the National Health Index (NHI). This NHI number will help identify you when you use health services.

• The Ministry of Health holds health information to measure how well health services are delivered and to plan and fund future health services. Auditors may occasionally conduct financial audits of your health practitioner.  The auditors may review your records and may contact you to check that you received those services.  

• Notification of births and deaths to the Births, Deaths and Marriages register may be performed electronically to streamline a person’s interactions with government.

Research

Your health information may be used in research approved by an ethics committee or when it has had identifying details removed.

• Research which may directly or indirectly identify you can only be published if the researcher has previously obtained your consent and the study has received ethics approval.  

• Under the law, you are not required to give consent to the use of your health information if it’s for unpublished research or statistical purposes, or if it’s published in a way that doesn’t identify you.

Complaints

It’s OK to complain if you’re not happy with the way your health information is collected or used.

Talk to your healthcare provider in the first instance.  If you are still unhappy with the response you can call the Office of the Privacy Commissioner toll-free on 0800 803 909, as they can investigate this further.

For further information

Visit www.legislation.govt.nz to access the Health Act 1956, Official Information Act 1982 and Privacy Act 1993

The Health Information Privacy Code 1994 is available at www.privacy.org.nz. You can also use the Privacy Commissioner’s Ask Us tool for privacy queries.

A copy of the Health and Disability Committee’s Standard Operating procedures can be found at http://ethics.health.govt.nz/operating-procedures

Further detail in regard to the matters discussed in this Fact Sheet can be found on the Ministry of Health website at http://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/health-care-services/sharing-your-health-information