Terms of service

Services Offered

• Digitally-led video or voice consultations nationwide.
• Face-to-face consultations in one of our physical locations, a list of which can be found here.
• Other medical services as detailed on our website including, but not limited to, ACC consultations and Immigration Medicals
• Secure messaging with clinicians
• Prescriptions and e-prescriptions
• Personalised reminders for health check-ups and screening programs based on information you have provided and that which is kept by various health agencies (including those maintained by the Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and Primary Health Organisations)
• Medication management
• Test results

We may change, add or remove services without notice.

If you have symptoms such as severe chest pain or breathlessness, heavy bleeding, broken bones, or loss of consciousness call 111 or go to an A&E or Emergency Department immediately.

Hours of Operation

Clinic opening hours:
View all our clinic locations for opening times here.

Online hours:
Weekdays: 7:00am - 9:00pm
Weekends: 9:00am - 9:00pm

If this is an emergency, call 111 or go to an A&E or Emergency Department immediately.

Access to Information

Enrolled patients will be able to access the following information via the Tend App

• Consultations notes and appointment history
• Prescription history
• Test results and referral information
• Your personal details and account information

Casual patients will be able to access the following information via the Tend App

• Consultations notes and appointment history
• Tend prescriptions
• Tend test results
• Your personal details and account information

What we need from you in order to provide services

We can only provide the services in accordance with these terms if we are provided with accurate information. When using our service, please ensure that:

• You follow any instructions given by our Practitioners
• You follow any instructions regarding the use of any medicines or healthcare products we recommend or prescribe (including respecting use-by dates)
• You report any adverse or unexpected effects of treatments we recommend to you
• You store any medicines we give or prescribe you securely and do not allow others (especially children) to use them
• You inform us if any information that we have about you is, or becomes, inaccurate or incomplete
• You use our services only for yourself, unless you are helping a child or dependant
• If you have any concerns about the information we provide or any information in the App or Websites, you can contact us via direct messaging with your clinical team, hello@tend.nz and/or seek further medical advice

We rely on an accurate record of you in order to provide the best service possible, therefore please ensure that you do not register for Tend more than once. If you feel you may have already registered but can’t access your account, please contact our Customer Experience Team on hello@tend.nz.

In the unlikely event of a technical error on our part, our Customer Experience Team will contact you to rebook your appointment or provide a refund.

For booked appointments, if the Tend clinician that you booked your appointment with is no longer available, we will allocate your appointment to a different member of our team. We will endeavour to contact you ahead of time to alert you of the change, and give you the opportunity to rebook if you would prefer.

Our philosophy is to manage your health concerns in an environment of mutual respect. Therefore we ask you to treat our staff and clinicians with patience and respect. If we believe that your behaviour is inappropriate we reserve the right to terminate your appointment. If this occurs you will then be contacted by another member of our team to help resolve your concerns.

Enrolled vs. Casual

In New Zealand you can only be enrolled with one GP practice at a time. GPs receive government funding for enrolled patients, so appointments are able to be cheaper (and children under 14 are free) where you're enrolled. To see how being enrolled with Tend impacts your fees, refer to our appointment fees. If you are not enrolled with Tend, you are in-eligible for government funding and will be seeing us as a casual patient. Anyone can see us as a casual patient, which won’t affect your enrolment with any other GP.

If you wish to learn more about your eligibility to enrol with Tend, see the Eligibility and Entitlement to Enrol section below.  

Consent

We won't provide any services to you without first giving all the information needed to make an informed choice or these services. If, for some reason, we require your separate, written, consent for a service, your Tend clinician will let you know and we will work through that during your consultation.

If you are choosing to use Tend as your regular GP, you will need to choose to enrol with us which, with your consent, will give us access to your previous medical history and notes from your prior GP(s). We are currently only able to enrol patients in the Auckland region.

If you are using Tend on a casual basis, your consent for services will still be required.  Additionally, you will be given the option to have the notes from this consultation sent to your regular GP.

If, at any point, you feel like you do not understand the information we are providing, or you don't want to continue with a consultation or service, just let us know.

More information about your rights and giving consent is available in the Your Rights and Our Liability for Services section below.

Eligibility and entitlement to enrol

You choose whether to enrol with us. We are currently only able to enrol patients who live in the Auckland region.

We may, at any time, request information from you to confirm your eligibility and entitlement to be enrolled with us. If you don’t provide that information, we may un-enrol you or register you as a casual user.

If any of your personal details change, including but not limited to, your address, information about your immigration status, information about your intention to reside in New Zealand for at least 6 months out of the next 12 months and/or information about your intention to use Tend as your primary GP,  these will need to be immediately updated within the App. These details might affect whether you are eligible and entitled to enrol, or stay enrolled, with Tend. If you have any questions about updating this information please contact our Customer Experience Team on hello@tend.nz.

If you provide inaccurate information to Tend at the time of your enrolment, or your information changes and you do not let us know, you will be liable for any costs we might incur as a result – see the Your Liability section of these terms of service.

Children and our services

If you are under 16 years old and wish to access our services, your parent or guardian can open a Tend account on your behalf which will then be linked to their account (this means that your parent or guardian will normally be able to access your health information). See our Privacy Statement for more information about how we manage health information we collect and hold about children

Prescriptions

Tend’s prescribing policy has been developed with direction from our Clinical Advisory Committee, in line with current Medical Council and RNZCGP guidance and relevant legislation. All customer prescriptions will be provided at the prescribing practitioner’s discretion.

Regions we service

Access to our online walk-in medical service is available across New Zealand for casual and enrolled patients.

At this stage, we can only offer enrolled services to customers in the Auckland, Tauranga and Christchurch region. Enrolling with us is done via the Tend App.  If you would like to enrol with us you must do this though the app and be able to attend one of our clinic locations.

We will continue to expand our service and may be coming to an area near you.

If you are, or are going to be, living outside of New Zealand for at least 6 of the next 12 months you cannot enrol with us (but can receive services as a casual user).

Fees and payments

For all casual patients, payment is made by credit/debit card in the app.

Enrolled patients can pay via the in-app payment method, credit/debit cards, cash or bank transfer.

In-app payments
For in-app payments patients load their credit/debit card details into the app. We use bank-grade security and all your payment details are encrypted.

When you add a new credit or debit card to our app, you may see a $1 pending charge on your bank statement. This is a temporary authorisation charge to confirm the card is valid and is refunded immediately, however bank processing times can vary and the charge may take up to ten days to disappear from your bank statement.

When booking an appointment or while waiting to see the next available GP online, Tend will validate the payment method by placing a temporary "hold of funds" for the cost of the selected appointment which will then be released.  This method ensures the payment method is valid and reliable. The return of funds is controlled by each individual's bank, and if not available immediately, should take no longer than 3 days to be released.

Tend does not directly collect or hold customer payment card information. All payment card collection, storage and transactions are performed directly by our secure Payment Card Industry compliant third party payment processor Stripe. At no time are full customer card details viewable by Tend.

At the conclusion of each appointment the fee for your consultation will be calculated based on your enrolment status and the services you were provided. We will issue an invoice and deduct payment from your registered credit or debit card.

Payment terms
All patients are required to make payment for services rendered at the time of their visit to Tend. Payment can be made through the various accepted methods, including in-app payment, credit/debit cards, cash or bank transfer.

If your credit or debit card is declined by its financial institution or fails to process, Tend may attempt the same card again and/or contact you to make alternative payment arrangements. Tend may decline to provide future appointments until all unpaid invoices have been settled.

In the event that payment is not received by the end of the month in which services were provided, an administrative charge may be applied to the outstanding balance. This charge is intended to cover administrative costs associated with late payment processing.

Patients exceeding the debt threshold must make a prepayment equivalent to the estimated cost of the services they seek before scheduling any additional appointments or receiving care. For patients having difficulty with payment, payment plans can be put in place.

Failure to settle outstanding account balances within a reasonable timeframe may result in the termination of services to the patient, once all steps to recoup outstanding debts have been made. You are liable for all costs associated with debt collection where you default in payment of any invoice.

Assurance and refunds
If we are unable to start or complete your appointment due to technical difficulties we will make contact with you, to arrange a suitable time to complete your appointment at no additional cost.

If you are charged an incorrect amount for any appointment, Tend will refund you the necessary adjustment to reflect the correct amount which should have been invoiced. We will refund you by crediting your registered credit or debit card.

How we will communicate with you

When registering with Tend you give us the email address and phone number where you wish to receive confirmations, reminders, receipts and other notifications from Tend. In the event your contact details change, you are responsible for updating these within the App or contacting our Customer Experience Team on hello@tend.nz for assistance.

We may use your contact information to communicate marketing content. You are able to unsubscribe from this type of communication at any point.

Personal data

For details about the information we collect about you, how we use it and how it’s shared and stored, please see our Privacy Policy.

Verifying your identity

We may ask you to verify your identity. We do this to ensure that you are entitled to receive publicly funded health services, to protect unauthorised access to your personal health information and to guard against fraud.

Our preference is for photographic identification (drivers licence or passport). If this is not available we will accept two other forms of non-photographic identification (e.g. utilities bill, credit or debit card, birth certificate etc).

For those patients joining Tend due to a clinic or patient book acquisition,  photographic identification is not required as we already have your verified patient identity on file.

We are only able to provide prescriptions or referrals elsewhere in the health system (including lab tests and radiology) if we are able to validate your identity to our satisfaction.

Cancellation

Booked Appointment Cancellations
You may make any changes or cancel a scheduled appointment, free of charge, up to 24 hours prior to the start of the appointment

If you cancel or reschedule your appointment between two and 24 hours prior to the scheduled appointment time we may charge a 50% cancellation fee. If you cancel or reschedule with less than two hours notice, a 100% cancellation fee may be applied.

If you do not attend your scheduled appointment and make no attempt to notify Tend of this, a 100% cancellation fee may apply.

If you are more than 5 minutes late to your scheduled appointment, we will need to cancel your appointment and a 100% cancellation fee may apply.

See the Next Available GP Cancellations
You may cancel your appointment at any time. If you cancel your consultation two hours prior to the estimated appointment time you will be provided with a full refund. If you cancel with less than two hours notice, a 100% cancellation fee may be applied.

If you do not attend your scheduled appointment and make no attempt to notify Tend of this, a 100% cancellation fee may apply.

Immigration Medical Appointment Cancellations
You may make any changes or cancel a scheduled appointment up to 48 hours prior to your appointment time and be eligible for a full refund of your deposit.

If you cancel or reschedule with less than 48 hours notice, you may not receive a refund of your deposit.

If you do not attend your scheduled appointment and make no attempt to notify Tend of this, you may not receive a refund of the upfront cost.

Your rights and making complaints

If you are not happy with any part of your Tend experience, you can make a complaint by contacting our Customer Experience Team on feedback@tend.nz or through secure messaging in the Tend app.

You also have rights and we have responsibilities to you as a consumer under the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights and nothing we set out in these Terms of Use takes away those rights and responsibilities.

If your concern is about an aspect of the health or disability services that we provide, you have a right to complain under the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights. You can make your complaint direct to us by using the link above and you can also access free and independent support to help raise your concerns through the Health and Disability Commissioner’s Advocacy Office, or contact them on 0800 555 050.

More information about your rights and our responsibilities under that Code, as well as your right to complain, is available here.

If you have concerns about privacy issues, then please also let us know by emailing it to hello@tend.nz. You can also review our Privacy Policy. If you have a complaint about privacy issues and we do not resolve it to your satisfaction then you can raise your concerns with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. More information is available here.

Termination – when we may end services or your enrolment

We may terminate or suspend your ability to use the services (including as a casual user), or your enrolment with us (if applicable), at any time if we have a genuine concern that the relationship between you and us or you and any of our health practitioners is severely compromised or for any other reason.

We will give you notice of any suspension or termination (including reasons for that suspension or termination) and you will be able to respond to that notice. We will also try to help you find an alternative provider and we will bear in mind our duties to end our customer/clinician relationship responsibly and appropriately, with your needs in mind.

If you are enrolled with us, but for any reason you are not entitled or eligible to enrol with us, we may immediately dis-enrol you and instead register you as a casual user.  Please see the Eligibility and Entitlement To Enrol section of these terms of use.

We will end your enrolment automatically if we receive notice that you have died.

You may end your enrolment with us and/or close your account at any time by emailing hello@tend.nz.

What happens once your account is closed

If your account is closed, either by you or by us, we will continue to hold your information in accordance with our Privacy Statement.

You will continue to receive communications from us unless you opt out.

Termination of the agreement between us, or ending your enrolment or closing your account, does not relieve either party from any liability that party has up to the time of termination, including any obligation to unpaid invoices.

Intellectual property

We own or are licensed all intellectual property rights in the App, our websites and the services (“Tend Material”). You are only permitted to use the Tend Material for your own non-commercial health purposes, such as to share your health information with your other medical and health professionals. You are not permitted to:

• Use any Tend logos, branding, trade name or trade marks without our prior written consent;
• Use the Tend Material for any commercial purposes; or
• Copy, modify, distribute, reverse engineer or decompile or commercialise any Tend Material.

The Tend Material may include links to other independent third party websites. Third party websites are not under our control and we are not responsible for any content on those websites. You will need to make your own judgment regarding how you use any such websites.

Your rights and our liability for services

If you are a consumer, then regardless of anything else in these Terms of Use, you will have rights under Consumer Guarantees Act and the terms of the Fair Trading Act. However, subject to your rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act:

• We exclude all implied representations, terms, warranties, guarantees or conditions from these terms of use.
• We are not liable to you under contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any indirect or consequential loss that you may suffer.
• We are not liable for any loss or damage that arises because you have not followed our instructions or these terms of use.

We may not be able to provide services to you if events happen that are outside of our control. If any events outside of our control occur, then we will notify you as soon as possible and will take reasonable steps to minimise any interruption to our services.

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained in the services or on the App and our website is complete and accurate, but we cannot warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information on the App, on our website or that this information is suitable for your intended use.

The services, App and our website may contain information provided by third parties and links to third party websites. We do not have any responsibility for the accuracy of that information or those third party websites.

Security is a priority for us when it comes to your personal and health data. We’re committed to protecting your data and have reasonable technical and organisational measures in place to make sure that happens. We use a variety of technologies and procedures to help protect information from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. When we store and transmit sensitive information, we protect it through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. However, our services are reliant on electronic communications and we cannot always guarantee the security, accuracy or availability of our services.

We will comply with our duties under the Privacy Act and the Health Information Privacy Code. Further information about privacy matters is provided in our Privacy Statement.

Your liability

You are responsible for your use of the services and ensuring that the services meet your personal requirements. Subject to our obligations at law and these terms of use, you use our services at your own risk.You are  responsible for maintaining the security of your account and devices by keeping your user account Information and log-in details confidential and secure, ensuring you have appropriate biometric and/or passcodes set, and not sharing any such information with any third party.

We rely on you to be honest with us and to comply with these terms of use. You agree to indemnify us against all liabilities, losses, claims and expenses that Tend suffers or incurs as a result of your use of the services in breach of the terms of this agreement, including in relation to any misrepresentations, inaccurate, or misleading statements concerning your eligibility or entitlement to receive the services (whether made intentionally or not).

Changes to Terms of Use

Tend may change the terms of use at any time. This could include changes to Tend’s enrolment requirements.

Miscellaneous

New Zealand law applies to these terms and any dispute arising under or in any way relating to these terms will be resolved exclusively by the courts of New Zealand.

We may assign or transfer our rights under our agreement with you to another party.