Rural telehealth service tender released

eHealthNews.nz: Digital Patient

Wednesday, 7 June 2023

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora have gone to tender for a Rural Clinical Telehealth Service to help relieve the “substantial pressure” on rural practices.

Around 190 rural practices in New Zealand serve 730,000 enrolled patients, including 440,000 classified as high need.

“Rural practices are under substantial pressure and are seeking investments to improve their situation,” the RFP says.

“The aim of this project is to provide rural communities with reliable and sustainable afterhours access, improve the access to primary and community care and commission a national telehealth medical and specialist referral service.”

The tender document says the service is expected to deliver more than 150,000 telehealth consultations over three years.

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The four components of the new service are; after hours telehealth nurse triage, booking, and handover service; GP overflow and afterhours telehealth consultations; integrated booking system support service; and programme coordination (of rural practices).

The service will be available from 5pm - 8am on weekdays and operate 24 hours a day on weekends and public holidays.

Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora are looking for a national provider or multiple providers working collaboratively to provide services across all four regions of Aotearoa (Northern, Te Manawa Taki, Central, Te Waipounamu).

The tender encourages partnership models between larger telehealth providers, equipped with existing IT telehealth infrastructure, and regional or smaller providers already delivering successful telehealth services to rural communities in order to build the capabilities of regional providers.

There is a high proportion of Māori living in rural areas (more than 20 percent). The new service must be designed to prioritise the needs of Māori, Pacific, and people with disabilities living rurally, and ensure that Māori and Pacific people's worldviews are integrated, as appropriate.

“While telehealth services cannot solve all the rural issues, they are a useful adjunct to on the ground services that can be deployed rapidly to improve access to care with a particular focus on priority populations and people living in the most isolated areas of Aotearoa,” the RFP says.

“The service will be nationally coordinated so sustainable systems can be established but will be implemented in ways that make sense locally.”

eHealthNews reported last July that ongoing funding of $4million has been dedicated to running a rural telehealth service.

The initial contract for the Rural Clinical Telehealth Service spans three years, with an option to extend for an additional two years.

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