Lack of reception hampers midwives
Call the midwife. Sounds easy, but for many families living in remote rural areas, it’s often anything but.
There is no doubt that rural communities without district-wide connectivity across all platforms struggle with delivery of all community health services.
The announcement of the permanent closure of the Manawatu Gorge and the lengthy wait before a new highway is built, is adding even more to the pressure to Tararua District’s already stretched health services.
Add to that the Gorge closure, the serious lack of connectivity for cellphone and internet in the district, and the result is an untenable situation.
Unless there is Government intervention to speed up the supply of rural telecommunications infrastructure, the District’s Health services will suffer even more pressure and the struggle to attract doctors, midwives and other health professionals to the area will become even more difficult.
Tararua Health Group CEO Sharon Wards said the issues facing all the District’s health services are becoming more challenging because of the inability to communicate via cellphone and internet.
“Our midwives often feel like rabbits down a hole when they head out to visit patients because within five minutes east or west of Dannevirke, there is absolutely no reception at all,” Sharon said. “Short of standing on a fence post with an outstretched arm while endeavouring to raise one bar of reception, our midwives are literally working in the dark whenever they head out into our rural areas.”
The Tararua District is the largest region under the MidCentral District Health Board’s jurisdiction and its difficult geographical terrain and lengthy roading infrastructure mean services are often stretched to the limit.
“Rural people are entitled to the same level of care as anyone,” Sharon said. “Our midwives and emergency service struggle so much because the Government sets policy that determines the way we operate. Because of the lack of connectivity many of these policies are impossible to implement.”
“iPads are of no use, we can’t Skype patients for virtual consults, we are stretched to capacity on the ground and it’s impossible to implement the policies that would enhance our medical services.”
Tararua Health Group’s Lead for Maternity Services Linda Shannon said they struggle daily with finding their way to points in the district where the lack of connectivity means GPS is of no use and records held in files online cannot be accessed.
“All of us know where the points are on the map where there is reception but they are very few and far between. We are working together as a team to map connectivity for the Connect Tararua Governance Group to assist accurate mapping of cellphone and internet black spots.”
Linda said once they get within five minutes of either side of SH 2, there is patchy coverage.
“We want to provide a smoother integrated service but when our midwives are constantly up against lack of connectivity, our job is made so much more difficult“
Linda gave an example of postpartum visits where a young mother may have a newborn with jaundice.
“We need to be able to visit but while we’re away on this call, we may have another client who is either in labour, or about to go into labour, and the midwives all need to be able to be in contact with each other to ensure that all cases are covered.”
Tararua Health Group, on average, has 140 maternity patients a year and operates with four midwives.
“Without connectivity, the number of patients for four midwives really stretches resources because we may have two midwives attending a delivery while another is out doing calls. When they can’t communicate with each other it really puts the service under immense pressure.”
Local knowledge and awareness is paramount in sprawling rural districts and when locums come on board to assist with stretched services, they aren’t familiar with the area and so the efficiency of service is compromised.
“Manage My Health patient portal is a fantastic innovation in health care that enables the community to communicate with the nearest health centre. With patient approval it allows doctors to upload personal health information from their medical centre’s computer system, thus allowing the patient to access their personal health information from any internet device at anytime,” Sharon said
“The most important precursor for Manage My Health is connectivity — without it, it simply can’t work.”
“Here we have a simple solution to a growing problem of stretched health services, but without good internet and cellphone coverage, it is rendered useless.”