Gain Health Centre

06/12/2025

The Holidays are on the way!

Please plan ahead for repeat prescriptions and routine appointments, as demand often increases at this time of year.

Holiday hours🎅🕎:

22-24 Dec 2025: Open
25-28 Dec 2025: Closed
29-31 Dec 2025: Open
1-4 Jan 2026: Closed
5 Jan 2026: Normal hours resume

Repeat prescriptions💊:
Please get your prescription requests in early! To ensure your script is processed before we close for the holidays, the cut-off date for prescription requests is 23 December. Requests received after this date will not be actioned until we reopen on 5 Jan.

Need care while we’re closed?
For after hours care, please contact Practice Plus (available weekdays 9am – 10pm and weekends and public holidays 8am – 8pm), or visit your nearest urgent care / after-hours facility. For general health advice, call📞 Healthline on 0800 611 116. In an emergency, call 📞111.

04/12/2025

Reminder: Our healthcare team may use Heidi, an AI note-taking tool, to write their clinical notes.

This means less time typing and more time focusing on you. It’s safe and secure and you can ask to see what it writes.✍

These tools simply help our team capture clinical notes more efficiently – but don’t worry, our healthcare team always reviews everything carefully. AI isn’t used for diagnosis, and it won’t make any clinical decisions. Your health information stays safe, private, and within the practice. If you have any questions or would like more information, just let us know - we’re here to help.

If you’d prefer that our team doesn’t use AI during your consultation, just let our friendly Reception team know when you arrive for your appointment.

02/12/2025

🆓Free support is available to help you make healthy lifestyle changes

Our Health Coach, Kathleen, is an integral part of our clinical team. Working alongside our doctors and nurses, her role is to support you in managing your health and wellbeing through lifestyle and behaviour changes. She can help with pre-diabetes/diabetes management, weight management, healthy eating, being active, quitting smoking, and living well with long-term conditions.

This is a funded service, so there is no cost involved. 🆓Appointments take up to 45 minutes. To book a consultation with Kathleen, talk to your GP or nurse, or contact Reception.

Please note: Kathleen is in the practice on Mondays.

29/11/2025

Congratulations to Matt on 19 years of service as a volunteer firefighter!

Huge congratulations to Matt, who has just been awarded his 19 years of service bar as a volunteer firefighter – adding to an already very impressive medal line-up!

We were lucky enough to be there for Employers’ Night at the Stokes Valley Fire Station, where we were treated to wonderful hospitality and a behind-the-scenes look at the station Matt has served for nearly two decades.

In the photo, we’re standing in front of “Betsy”, a 1939 Ford fire truck that Matt helped restore and now drives on special occasions. We were thoroughly blown away seeing what Matt and his fellow volunteers have done (and continue to do) to provide fire service to the region.

Ka pai, Matt – what an achievement!

28/11/2025

Helpful Tips for preventing or improving type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes

Pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes can be prevented or improved by making lifestyle changes including:

*Healthy eating: Eat a balanced diet. Consider how much and when you eat, being mindful of carb, fibre, fat and salt intake. Find healthy and delicious diabetes-friendly recipes.
*Being active: Regular physical activity helps your cells use insulin and lowers your blood sugar
*Getting enough sleep: Poor sleep can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

All of these are important to your long-term health. If you’re struggling with your eating, exercise or sleep habits, please seek support and advice from our expert clinical team. We’re here to support your health and well-being.

26/11/2025

Understanding Diabetes

Diabetes is when the level of glucose in your blood is too high.

If it’s not controlled, it can damage the organs in your body. The amount of glucose in your body is controlled by hormones - primarily insulin. With diabetes, your body is unable to produce insulin, or it doesn’t respond properly to the insulin it produces.

Types of diabetes

Type 1 diabetes:
This is an auto-immune condition where the body attacks the cells in your pancreas that make insulin, so not enough is produced. Type 1 diabetes usually begins in childhood and can appear suddenly, often after a viral infection. Type 1 diabetes isn’t lifestyle related.

Type 2 diabetes:
When your body can’t use insulin effectively. The insulin-making cells in your pancreas produce insulin, but the insulin isn’t working well. About 90% of people with diabetes have type 2, and it's one of the fastest growing preventable health conditions in New Zealand.

Gestational diabetes:
When a pregnant woman who was not known to have diabetes before pregnancy develops high blood glucose levels during pregnancy. About 4-8% of pregnant women are diagnosed with gestational diabetes. If left untreated it can lead to problems for both mum and baby. Usually, it goes away after giving birth but may recur in future pregnancies.

Pre-diabetes:
Pre-diabetes is when your blood glucose level is higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. People with pre-diabetes can make lifestyle changes to reverse diagnosis.

Common symptoms include:

*Unexplained weight loss
*Frequent urination
*Extreme hunger
*Irritability
*Excessive thirst
*Extreme tiredness
*Blurred vision
*Slow healing cuts and bruises

If you notice any of the above symptoms in you or a family member, it’s important to talk to a GP 👩‍⚕️for testing, diagnosis and treatment.

24/11/2025

24/11/2025

Team Update: Welcome to Jehramae Catubay – Registered Nurse

Jehramae is a registered nurse from the Philippines, where she completed her nursing degree in 2011. She has experience across a range of nursing fields, including occupational health, paediatrics, medical, obstetrics and gynaecology in a tertiary hospital setting.

She moved to New Zealand in July 2022, initially working in a high-dependency aged residential care unit, and gained her New Zealand nursing registration in October 2023. Jehramae has now joined primary care to further expand her skills and knowledge and to work with a diverse range of patients.

She is passionate about listening to people’s concerns and working with them to find solutions to their health issues. Outside of work, Jehramae enjoys travelling, long walks, playing chess, and catching up with friends in cafés.

22/11/2025

Team Updates: Welcome to Dr Marius Popescu - GP

Originally from Romania, Marius studied medicine there before relocating to the UK, where he worked as both a GP and a Specialty Doctor in Emergency Departments across the four nations. He has a special interest in Emergency Medicine and continued this work in Hawke’s Bay, NZ.

His training includes a wide range of clinical skills (including steroid injections), as well as non-clinical work as an accredited Educational and Clinical Supervisor, regularly teaching on topics such as ECGs and head injuries. He hopes to bring his teaching experience into our practice in the future.

He brings a highly professional approach but is also relaxed and approachable. He’s happy to be called Marius (and jokes that he’ll even answer to Morris, Maurice, or whatever you come up with!).

With broad experience across both primary care (general practice) and secondary care (emergency medicine), Marius is looking forward to supporting patients with practical, well-rounded advice and care.

20/11/2025

Measles Outbreak - FREE vaccines🆓

Measles is highly infectious. This year in Aotearoa New Zealand we have already had cases of measles.

The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is now FREE in New Zealand for adults and children.

After one dose of the vaccine, around 95% of people are fully protected, and after 2 doses, 99% of people are fully protected.

The MMR vaccine is the best form of protection against measles.
Book your free MMR vaccine today at one of our medical centres! If you or your whānau feel unwell, please stay home and call us before visiting.

Learn more: https://info.health.nz/conditions-treatments/infectious-diseases/about-measles/measles

03/11/2025

November is Diabetes Action Month.
This national awareness campaign, focuses on uniting communities across Aotearoa to take action against one of our country’s most urgent health issues.

For information on how to identify signs, how to get tested, and more visit

Diabetes Action Month is an awareness campaign by Diabetes NZ, bringing New Zealanders together to take action for NZ's largest and fastest growing health condition.

22/10/2025

3 dates for FREE cervical screening clinics at Hutt hospital and Wellington hospital, bookings preferred, walk-ins welcome!