The PFL Call Centre: A response to growing GP Clinic pressure from Omicron

Updates / News, 18 Mar 22

With the Omicron outbreak putting more stress on GP clinics and service provision, Pasifika Futures (PFL) - the Whānau Ora commissioning agency for Pacific families - have responded by standing up a call centre to alleviate some of this pressure off the Etu Pasifika clinic in Auckland.

PFL’s Covid-19 Support Lead, Christina Isaia, is coordinating the call centre which is based at the PFL offices in Ellerslie.

“The call centre was set up to assist our Etu Clinic in Auckland as a means of supporting our Pacific people during the Omicron outbreak.

We provide virtual health and social support to Covid positive Etu Pasifika Auckland patients referred to us from the Pacific Regional Co-ordination Hub. We also provide virtual reception services to general Etu Pasifika Auckland patients.”

The referrals the call centre receives are mainly patients with Etu Pasifika Auckland, however they also receive referrals for patients not registered with the clinic. As of Monday 14 March 2022, they have received 575 referrals; of this number, they have discharged 522 referrals.

Mrs Isaia says it is a team effort to ensure the call centre is operating smoothly so that referrals have a clear understanding of the support available.

“We have a clinical team of doctors and nurses who do an initial health assessment and then this is followed up with daily health checks.

Part of the service includes social and cultural assistance such as mental health support, financial assistance for utility bills, provision of food parcels and health packs which come with PPE gear and pulse oximeters for high risk patients.

We also have a systems administrator who ensures that referrals being received are transferred and able to be viewed by our clinical, social and cultural support team,” says Mrs Isaia.

As the number of Covid positive patients continues to rise, Mrs Isaia says the priority is currently on high-risk patients.

“The high-risk patients would be people like the elderly, pregnant women, children under five and those with preexisting health conditions. They are checked daily by our team and all escalations to the hospital are actioned immediately.

Our social and cultural support team predominantly look after lower risk families and ensure welfare and cultural support is provided as required.”

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Date: Friday 18 March 2022

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