Online hospital doctor consultations

A consultation with your hospital doctor - without having to come to the hospital.

This online service is really great if you live in a rural area, or have difficulty getting to Waikato Hospital for a specialist appointment.

You can save time, effort and the cost of travelling by having a consultation with your hospital doctor, via HealthTap on your smartphone, tablet or desktop computer.

What is HealthTap?

HealthTap is an online platform and smartphone app. Waikato DHB has worked with HealthTap to develop a New Zealand version that gives you access to health information, advice, online consultations with hospital specialists, and an out of hours online doctor service.  HealthTap supports video, voice and text chat.

• Online consultation appointments are FREE*
• You and your specialist will decide whether an online consultation is suitable for you. For example, it is good for follow-up appointments where a physical examination is not necessary or can be done over a video link.
• An appointment is made for an online consultation. You need to be ready and available at the appointment time, just like you would for a hospital appointment. STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
• You can be anywhere – at home, at the office, on the farm - so long as you have broadband connection.
• HealthTap supports video, voice and text chat.
• The connection is secure and private. The consultation notes are entered automatically in your hospital clinical record, and you will be able to see the notes too.
• You will also be able to message your hospital doctor if you need to know something or have concerns.

What do I need to do?

• You need to be covered by Waikato DHB services (i.e. living in the Waikato DHB health district and eligible for public health services).
• You need a 4G smartphone or a computer with broadband connection.
• You must be registered on the New Zealand version of HealthTap.
   HOW TO SIGN UP
• Your hospital doctor must also be signed up on HealthTap so you can add them to your own Care Team on HealthTap.
  Many of our hospital consultants are already signed up – if yours isn’t, please ask them to sign up to HealthTap so you have the option of an online appointment in future, if it’s appropriate for your treatment. We are also encouraging GPs (your community doctor) to sign up as well, and become part of your HealthTap Care Team.

Note: This service is for patients who are already in the care of or are referred to one of one of our Waikato DHB hospital doctors. It provides an option for an online appointment or consultation via HealthTap if appropriate. 

• How to sign up to HealthTap - Note: the first step is to take photo ID to our Enquiries desk at Waikato Hospital, or the main reception at any of our other hospitals at Thames, Te Kuiti, Tokoroa or Taumarunui, and ask to complete the sign up form.
• About all our Virtual DHB online services, powered by HealthTap

*  Services on HealthTap are free. However online consultations will use up some of your data. How much data will depend on whether you connect with video, voice or text chat.  We are working with telco providers to make the HealthTap app ‘zero rated’ which means that a HealthTap consultation wouldn’t eat into your data plan.