Healthcare challenges for rural NZ

A severe shortage of doctors and other health professionals in rural areas is another major issue affecting the health and wellness of rural communities, says Dr Garry Nixon, head of rural section of the Department of General Practice and Rural Health at Otago University.

Almost a quarter of New Zealanders live in rural communities and encounter unique challenges that city dwellers do not face.

He says training needs to be centred in rural regions.

“The international evidence tells us that if we want health professionals to work in rural areas, we need to train them there.

“This needs a targeted central government initiative to work with the universities to create a rural clinical school or equivalent solution.”

Improving access to services and health outcomes for rural Ma¯ori is an important priority: “Rural Ma¯ori have poorer health outcomes than both urban Ma¯ori and rural non-ma¯ ori.”

He says access to health services is a significant challenge rural communities are up against.

“Distance is a barrier and rural people don’t get the same access to specialist care. Providing good and accessible healthcare in rural areas means doing things differently to the way they are done in town — not simply providing scaled-down versions of urban healthcare.”

To determine the extent of urban-rural health inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand, Dr Nixon and his research team have developed a tool classifying residential addresses as either urban or rural from a health perspective. He says this will better inform policy regarding rural health.

“We are already starting to see this in the data. For example, the [tool] is demonstrating higher mortality rates for a number of conditions in rural areas, something that is not evident using older . . . classifications.”