Long hours of travel, waiting
Rural Kiwi patients bear the brunt of the millions of hours a year spent travelling to – or waiting for – specialist medical appointments, a report says.
Remote spots also face the biggest challenges in recruiting health professionals, the Health and Disability System Review found.
The justification for a third medical school could be greater now than three or four years ago, one rural health expert says.
‘‘In smaller communities, there are never enough healthcare providers,’’ University of Waikato Professor of Rural Health Roger Strasser said.
Whether nurses, doctors or pharmacists, rural practitioners need a broad skillset, and the case could be made for a fresh training approach, he said.
The University of Waikato made a bid for a medical school with a rural focus in 2016, and is developing a nursing programme.
Rural people face long trips for specialist medical care, and the system review found Kiwis collectively spend at least 11 million hours travelling or waiting for their appointments.
Many rural people don’t see that as a good use of time, Strasser said.
‘‘Arrive at eight o’clock in the morning – which means getting up at four o’clock to get there ... Then they see the specialist who says, you’re fine, come back and see me in three months.’’
The sentiment of the review was spot on, Strasser said, but it talked about both local input into care and a more centralised system.
The health system review flagged several aspects to consider, from telemedicine and specialist visits to making more use of paramedics.
Shortages in the rural health workforce ‘‘more than urgently’’ need to be addressed, Rural GP network chairperson Dr Fiona Bolden said.
She wouldn’t comment on a third medical school but wanted GPs, physiotherapists, pharmacists and others to have much more time training rurally.
The Health Minister previously supported rural training hubs.
The University of Waikato is very interested in how it can help ease workforce issues, Professor of Population Health Ross Lawrenson said.
Several points in the report were aligned to the Waikato Medical School pitch, including longer community placements.