A new out-of-hours clinical telehealth service will soon be offered to rural communities in New Zealand.
This comes after the contract to deliver the said service nationally for three years was awarded to a consortium of telehealth providers, made up of Reach Aotearoa, Practice Plus and Emergency Consult.
WHAT MATTERS
Commissioned by Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora, the new service will provide care outside office hours during the week and be available 24 hours a day at weekends and public holidays. It is offered to all rural patients, regardless of whether they are registered with a primary care practice. Rural GP practices that are overloaded can also refer their patients to the service.
Based on a press release, the government-subsidized service will still charge the patient a co-payment for consultations with a doctor; it remains free for children under 14.
The Ka Ora consortium will work with local healthcare providers, including Hauora Māori providers, to deliver the telehealth service.
WHY IT MATTERS
Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora started in June this year looking for out-of-hours service providers, at the request of stakeholders in the rural health sector.
The new out-of-hours service will help improve the way people in New Zealand’s rural communities access primary care, which is currently under “combined pressure from workforce shortages and unsustainable out-of-hours schedules”, according to Te Whatu Ora , national director of Commissioning Abbe. Anderson.
It also helps prevent unnecessary delays in care and prevent patients from having to make long journeys in the middle of the night just to get to a hospital, said Selah Hart, Maiaka Hapori deputy general manager of Public and Population Health at Te Aka Whai Ora.
THE BIG TREND
In addition to telehealth, remote health monitoring is also being used in rural New Zealand to further reduce the number of emergency visits and hospital admissions. Wānau-led Remote patient monitoring pilot projects are now underway in four rural communities; Te Aka Whai Ora is supporting these pilots with $1.4 million in funding, while Te Whatu Ora has supplied the necessary equipment and technology.