Starlink connects rural Māori to health services

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

A Māori health equity initiative in the Te Whatu Ora Lakes district is using a Starlink satellite dish, telehealth kit and remote patient monitoring devices to connect rural Māori patients to primary and secondary care clinicians.

Pokapū 3 Whare Manaaki aims to reduce Māori DNA (did not attend) rates for specialist appointments at Lakes Hospitals (Rotorua and Taupo) and some primary care clinics, by using Hato Hone St John staff to visit their homes and facilitate telehealth appointments.

Pokapū o te Taiwhenua Network is a virtual network of health and wellbeing providers that supports digital inclusion and facilitates telehealth appointments.

Pokapū 3 Whare Manaaki - a collaboration between Te Whatu Ora Lakes and Hato Hone St John - focuses on Māori DNA (did not attend) patients in the region. Referrals are made electronically to the Pokapū 3 team and the clinical coordinator works with the whānau, clinician and ambulance staff to schedule an appointment.

A qualified paramedic and a qualified emergency medical technician travel to the patient’s home, and set up a Starlink internet connection with the hospital or primary care clinician via a telehealth tablet. The ambulance staff talk the patients through the appointment and can take vitals such as blood pressure, heart rate, ECGs and video otoscope of the ear. This information is captured and presented to the clinician in real time.

Eleven appointments were completed in the first tranche of the pilot and 50 are now booked for the second.

Dan Spearing, national equity manager, Hato Hone St John, says the pilot focuses on DNA patients because Māori are significantly over represented in that population.

“It’s reconnecting people who have been disconnected from the health system,” he says. “If we do not do anything in this space, the equity gap is only going to grow wider.”

An evaluation showed whānau felt more comfortable discussing their health in their own home and trusted the Hato Hone staff and brand. Clinicians also felt positively about the service.

“Paramedics are very used to walking into people's homes and navigating those situations and we are used to practicing medicine in rural and remote places,” Spearing says.

“A lot of these patients are also high risk, so we need to be ready to treat them if something were to happen.”

Sue Westbrook, Pokapū o te Taiwhenua coordinator, Te Whatu Ora – Lakes, says rural and isolated patients struggle to attend in-person appointments, particularly when it can involve a four-hour return trip. Many also struggle with technology so could not access telehealth appointments.

The new service targets rural Māori and is hugely beneficial to them, but is not exclusive to Māori DNA patients, she explains.

Starlink technology has been important to the programme as often internet connections are unreliable in remote locations.

“Pokapū 3 provides choice for these patients, by making a digital option available. We want to see this decision put in the palms of the patient and their whānau,” Westbrook says.

Watch a video of Pokapū 3 in action.

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