Rising ‘tide’ of telehealth recedes

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The ‘tide’ of telehealth expected due to the pandemic was smaller than anticipated and has receded significantly over recent years, a new report shows.

The Health Quality and Safety Commission Te Tāhū Hauora report concludes that while use of phone and video has settled at higher levels since Covid-19, “those levels remain still well behind the potential delivery and potential demand for these services”.

‘A window on quality 2024’ says the rising ‘tide’ of telehealth was smaller than might have been expected and never went beyond 20 percent of appointments in primary care.

“Moreover, though the tide may not have receded completely, the drop was certainly substantial (to about 8 percent of appointments in November 2023). In other words, at all times, primary care was overwhelmingly dominated by in-person appointments,” it says.

Secondary care data mirrors the same pattern of uptake of telehealth and return to near business-as-usual and in-person care, as the primary sector.

Even at the peak of 25 percent of outpatient appointments done via telehealth in early 2020, virtually all of these were by telephone and the vast majority continued to be conducted in-person, the report says.

Data from the primary care patient experience survey shows Māori and Pacific peoples were more likely than other ethnic groups to have had a recent primary care appointment via telehealth. Users were also more likely to be under 65, female and disabled.

During lockdowns when telehealth use was rising, patients reported benefits such as; saving on travel time, faster appointments, shorter wait times, feeling more relaxed and not having to visit a place where others were sick.

National Telehealth Leadership Group chair Ruth Large says the HQSC report reflects the results of the 2023 Telehealth Stocktake which showed use of telehealth in public hospitals going backwards.

“Our stocktake showed that while investment driven by Covid-19 led to real gains in telehealth, New Zealand is now losing telehealth services and there is a decrease in planned use of telehealth for the future,” she tells eHealthNews.

The stocktake is a NZ Telehealth Forum (NZTF) initiative, which recently lost its funding from Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora after 12 years in operation.

Large says it will continue to operate in a volunteer capacity and she hoped it would regain funding when budgets allowed.

Health NZ has also recently released a future procurement opportunity notice on GETS saying it is reviewing the provision of National Telehealth Services (NTS), which includes Healthline, mental health and addictions services and other services.

Whakarongorau NZ Telehealth Services currently holds the NTS 10-year contract which expires in June 2025

“The focus will be on primary care and community telehealth services funded by Health NZ and associated agencies but excludes hospital and specialist telehealth services except as they overlap with primary or urgent care,” the notice says.

Health NZ’s quarterly performance report ending 31 March 2024 shows around 10 percent of medical appointments being delivered via digital channels. Many of these were via the Ka Ora rural telehealth service which had provided 2,700 GP appointments since it went live in November 2023.

Read Ruth Large’s view of the future of the NZ Telehealth Forum and Resource Centre in My Views.

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