Digital-first GP service attracts Māori patients

eHealthNews.nz: Digital Patient

Tuesday, 11 May 2021

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Co-founder of Tend, Mataroria Lyndon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua, Waikato) Digital-first general practice provider Tend is attracting a large proportion of Māori patients.

Tend allows patients to book appointments, see a doctor and access their clinical notes and prescriptions, all via an app.

Appointments are available in evenings and weekends and around 70 percent of issues are treated via telehealth. After being triaged online, 30 percent of people are then seen at Tend’s Kingsland clinic.

The new service is attracting a large proportion of Māori with 13 percent of patients identifying as such, compared with nine percent for the Auckland DHB population area where Tend's Medical Centre is located.

Northland DHB member and Auckland University senior lecturer Mataroria Lyndon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua, Waikato) is a co-founder of Tend and says the company has Māori clinical leadership and has geared its marketing and messaging towards engaging with Māori, such as using Anika Moa (Ngāpuhi) in its promotional campaigns.

He says it is important to provide choice to patients to be seen both virtually and in-person and providing a digital channel increases access for Māori patients.

“People who aren’t able to access primary care through traditional means are coming to Tend,” he says.

"There is ongoing continuity of care through choosing a clinician, access to medical notes and messaging with out care team - all through the app."

Co-founder of Tend, Cecilia Robinson, says the service is seeing a good demographic mix and a range of clinical concerns and issues.

While the service is not free, Robinson says it attracts people on lower incomes because seeing a GP virtually does not come with the associated costs of taking time off work and travel.

Since launching in October, Tend has grown to around 50 staff: half clinical and half IT and operations, working side-by-side.

It services the Auckland region, where it has a physical clinic, but is in talks with other practices about acquisition and expanding to other areas.

The company recently raised $15 million to fund its expansion plans, which include acquiring a pharmacy.

“We want a really measured long-term sustainability approach to healthcare so we’ve been listening to patients and clinicians and understanding problems in the sector and how we can resolve them,” says Robinson.

Using the app, patients are asked to feedback after each consultation and around 70 percent do so, giving a 96 percent customer satisfaction rating.

Clinicians also message patients via the app after appointments to check their issue is resolved or that they have picked up their medication.

“We are proactively saying, ‘has it helped?’ and that’s what patients say makes such a big difference in terms of experience,” Robinson says.

“It also gives clinicians a sense of completing the service as they get to see the journey.”

The drive to create Tend came from Robinson feeling letdown by the health system after the trauma of having a miscarriage and a stillborn baby. She eventually got advice from a specialist in Australia via telehealth.

“People from the sector say, ‘you are not from the sector’, but I am as a patient and that’s really important,” she says.

“It’s about equity and I want to make sure everybody can have access to an experience like that.”