Doctors on call via triage system lift patient access

More than 1000 Marlborough patients have consulted their doctor by phone as part of a new healthcare model.

Health Care Home is designed to improve patient access to healthcare, with a ‘‘big emphasis’’ on alternatives to face-toface appointments.

Nelson Marlborough Health Care Home facilitator Victoria Leov said the GP triage system – calling in to speak with your doctor – was introduced by two Marlborough practices.

‘‘If a patient is unwell on the day, they can ring in and the GP rings them back,’’ Leov said.

‘‘Possibly it might just be a medical certificate or a prescription they can generate for you. If you talk to your own GP over the phone, they often know you and know whether you are really unwell or if there are other ways to manage it.’’

Leov said 1119 patients had been triaged by this service since it was introduced at Civic Family Health Care and Omaka Medical at the start of 2019.

Up to half of the patients requesting a same-day appointment were managed without needing to present at the practice.

Alternative outcomes included a prescription, advice given over the phone or a referral for a diagnostic.

Patients with requests that could not be resolved through this process were given an appointment on the day or on a future date, Leov said. More than 50 per cent of the population of Nelson Marlborough were enrolled in a practice at some stage of the Health Care Home model.

In their second year of the programme, Omaka Medical and Civic Family Health Care would look to introduce online video consultations.

Pelorus Area Health Trust administrator Jenny Garing said patients in the remote Pelorus area were already accessing a patient portal through Springlands Health, which had recently moved to the Health Care Home model.

‘‘The patient portal is a good first step, being able to access your files or get repeat prescriptions, but virtual consultations would be even better,’’ Garing said.

‘‘It would be incredibly welcome for people who live out in the Sounds.’’

Garing said several people who lived several hours out of Havelock had volunteered to be guinea pigs for a trial of online video consultations but some patients would be restricted by internet access.

Onamalutu Valley resident Peter Steggle thought virtual consultations were a good idea but would only work for certain appointments. ‘‘It is great if the assessment you can do is all talking,’’ Steggle said. ‘‘If the assessment you want to do requires any hands-on, any physical interaction, it is impossible.’’