Rural Telehealth Services to relieve pressure on rural GPs

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora, Health NZ plans to rapidly develop bespoke Rural Telehealth Services to help alleviate pressure on rural general practices and enhance access to care in rural areas.

Ongoing annual funding of $4 million has been dedicated to creating and running the services nationwide and the first tranche of sites are expected to be live by the end of this year.

Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network general manager advocacy, Marie Daly has been seconded to Te Whatu Ora to assist with this initiative. She says the needs and readiness of rural areas differ and the telehealth solutions implemented will also differ nationwide.

“This is not a national service, but a nationally coordinated service that will be locally focused,” she says.

“The plan is to start with 2-3 sites over the next couple of months and then progress to others as we improve our understanding of the types of offerings that will help rural general practice.”

Te Whatu Ora, Health NZ (HNZ) facilitated a RTHS workshop in partnership with Hauora Taiwhenua, on 28 June, 2022 with 80 rural health experts.

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The workshop report says, HNZ and the Māori Health Authority (MHA) recognise that the sustainability of rural general practice has been severely challenged by a variety of factors including; the pandemic response; unsustainable rosters; and long term rural health workforce stressors.

“Health NZ intends to rapidly establish bespoke Rural Telehealth Services (RTHS) that could alleviate the pressures on rural general practices and enhance rural community access to primary care services,” it says.

The RTHS could span both planned and un-planned service needs such as telehealth locum GP and afterhours services, GP triage, and in-clinic, afterhours, at home and urgent care.

Daly says a number of telehealth services are already in place and working well and these could be built on and established elsewhere in the country.

She says the reception amongst rural health professionals at the workshop was very positive because a key principle is that the RTHS will enhance existing services and work as an adjunct to rural practices, not be a replacement of them

The RTHS project will be overseen by a National Steering Group that includes HNZ, MHA, Hauora Taiwhenua, and experts from a range of rural organisations and perspectives.

“This initiative is one that can be implemented in an accelerated timeframe and anticipates a more comprehensive programme of rurally focused initiatives that are outlined in the soon-to-be-released interim NZ Health Plan,” the report says.

“It will leverage the increasing capability and acceptance of telehealth services by both patients and practitioners to move quickly to alleviate identified pressures in rural general practice.”

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