National 24/7 telehealth service to launch in July

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth 

A national 24/7 telehealth service will be launched in July, enabling online appointments with GPs and nurse practitioners, and providing care for people not enrolled with a GP, the government has announced.

General practice leaders have broadly welcomed the news, but are keen to see more detail about the cost to patients and how the technology will allow telehealth clinicians to see the key medical history of people calling in.

Health Minister Simeon Brown says overseas clinicians who are registered in New Zealand may be used as part of the new service.

“This service will mean Kiwis can access primary healthcare from anywhere in New Zealand, 24 hours a day, seven days a week with the ability for GPs and nurses to also issue prescriptions or make referrals for lab tests,” he says.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora will run a procurement process to find providers for the system, Brown told media.

Bryan Betty, chair of GPNZ, told RNZ the backbone of the New Zealand general practice primary care system has to be face to face. 

“We have got to remember that the main issues that are dealt with in the community and hospitals are long term, complex medical problems such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental health,” he said. 

“They require ongoing continuity and they require face to face.”

He said telehealth has a limited role to play addressing single or acute issues.

Betty added that it is important that there is “data and digital enablement so that the patient's key medical history can be accessed from those telehealth services.”

Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners president Samantha Murton agreed that the increased availability of telehealth will be beneficial, but it needs to be offered alongside improved support for face-to-face primary care services to ensure continued patient safety.

“Telehealth fills a niche, not a void,” she says.

ProCare chief executive Bindi Norwell says that a 24/7 sounds amazing and will ease pressure on hospitals, but “as with anything, the devil is in the detail”.

“We do have a number of questions that we would like answered in due course - what will the cost to patients be, who will be providing the service, and what does ‘subsidised’ consults look like?”  she says.

HiNZ chief executive Scott Arrol says telehealth is one of five key opportunities for targeted digital investment that could improve efficiency while reducing costs, identified in a recent special report sent to Minister Brown.

HiNZ conducted a workforce survey in December 2024, with respondents highlighting the opportunity to expand telehealth and remote monitoring services using the Patient Anywhere Clinician Elsewhere model developed by the NZ Telehealth Forum.

“When telehealth is implemented well into a model of care, it can bridge access gaps for rural and priority populations that experience inequity and reduce the strain on primary care and emergency departments,” Arrol says.

Chair of the NZ Telehealth Forum Ruth Large says the initiative appears to align with the forum's stocktake recommendations and the PACE model of care.

"The Forum is mindful that whilst telehealth can improve access it should be seen as an additional tool and not as workforce replacement," she says.

"There is a risk with proposals like this that workforce could be displaced into a non-contact environment and we would hope to see plans as to how this could be mitigated alongside the recognition that continuity of care offers the best outcomes to patients.

"A shared electronic record will be paramount to the delivery of this initiative and clinical governance processes alongside ongoing evaluation on impact will likewise be critical. The forum remains willing and able to work with Te Whatu Ora to support initiatives of this kind."

Health NZ says the new service will be launched in July supported by a public awareness campaign, and will include providing care for people not enrolled with general practice. 

“We will provide more details on the service over the coming months,” the Health NZ website says. 

There are a number of primary and secondary care bespoke telehealth providers already operating in New Zealand, though few are 24/7. 

Numbers provided to eHealthNews in September 2024 showed primary care telehealth providers Practice Plus, CareHQ and Bettr NZ were together delivering more than 100,000 appointments a year and all reported sharp increases over the previous 12 months.

There is also a national rural telehealth service called Ka Ora, a collaboration between Practice Plus and Emergency Consult, which handled more than 13,000 appointments in its first year.

An email to practices and PHOs about the new national service says the government will subsidise access for those with community service cards and those under 14 to telehealth consultations through approved providers.

Read more about the use of telehealth in New Zealand’s health system in Digital Health CONNECT.

To comment on or discuss this news story, go to the eHealthNews category on the HiNZ eHealth Forum

You’ve read this article for free, but good journalism takes time and resource to produce. Please consider supporting eHealthNews by becoming a member of HiNZ, for just $17 a month

Read more Digital Patient news

Return to eHealthNews.nz home page