McKesson Manages Swine Flu Pandemic Professionally and Promptly

The Swine Flu pandemic revealed the important role Healthline plays in the New Zealand community.

Since the outbreak of this virus in April, the Healthline service provided by McKesson New Zealand Ltd has been a key part of the Government’s response to the situation and Healthline was actively and widely promoted primary source of information and advice.

McKesson’s team of medical advisors and senior clinical nurses worked closely with the Ministry of Health responding swiftly to prepare and continually update decision support triage guidelines so that Healthline nurses could attend promptly and professionally to callers with safe, reliable and up-to-date healthcare information and advice.

General Manager of McKesson New Zealand, Lesley Clarke said that Healthline initially received double the number of calls but during the peak period in June and July the service was over 160 per cent of usual call volumes.

“We were really pleased how well the service operated and it reinforced how important safe, consistent and well-informed telephone advice is to the community,” said Ms Clarke.

“McKesson’s sophisticated operational and clinical methodologies ensured we were able to work effectively through both the containment and management phases of this pandemic and our nurses did an exceptional job, working many additional hours to support the demand for health advice over the last few months.”

Anyone in the community can use this telephone triage service and speak to a Registered Nurse by phoning the Healthline number 0800 611 116.

Healthline is funded by the Ministry of Health and is New Zealand's national 24-hour triage telephone health advice service.

All calls are answered by registered nurses with telenursing training and working within the Nursing Council's Professional Standards for Telenursing Practice.

In addition to Healthline McKesson New Zealand provides a range of telephone and web-based health services throughout New Zealand including the Well Child Telephone Advice Service and Mental Health Line.

McKesson New Zealand is part of McKesson Asia-Pacific which employs over 750 health professionals throughout New Zealand and Australia including GPs and physicians, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and other health professionals.

McKesson Asia-Pacific is the leading provider of specialised health support solutions helping millions of people maintain or improve their health and, as a result, reduce overall healthcare costs.