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Advocacy

Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network is committed to listening, questioning, and having conversations about issues that impact on the health and wellbeing of rural health and rural communities.   

Through our Chapters and their representatives on Council, we identify key issues, source data and information. 

Together, we have established a reputation for being a credible, solution focused voice of rural health. This provides a strong platform for discussions with Government and the Ministry of Health, Immigration, and Business Innovation and Employment. It enables us to take a broad and inclusive view of health and wellbeing in rural communities to health sector advisory groups and committees, government working groups. We are often invited to cast a rural lens across Government initiatives or make submissions on policy or decisions that impact on rural communities.  

Marie Daly
General Manager Advocacy

Update from General Manager Advocacy

During February and March, it was my absolute pleasure to work with about 40 members from across our chapters to develop our written submission for Manatū Hauora’s Women’s Health Strategy.

As one of the six strategies that result from the Pae Ora Act, this was a unique opportunity to make a bold contribution supported by population data derived from applying the Geographic Classification for Health to Census 2028 statistics. All with the end goal that of improving the health and wellbeing of women who live and work in rural Aotearoa NZ.

About 40 people from across all of our Chapters agreed that we would structure our submission on a simple question: what significance does living rurally have in determining the health outcomes of girls and women?

 

 

Here are the closing recommendations we made in our Submission

Health outcomes for rural women can only be improved if it is recognised that health care pathways must be based on the principle that ‘any door is the right door’ whether a woman accesses services through their GP, Māori Health Provider, school clinic, physio or social services.

 

 

 

Addressing these issues will require a bold and innovative strategy that:

    • Is premised upon immediate actions to attract, train, and retain a culturally appropriate rural health workforce.
    • Is built upon investment in technology, mobile screening and diagnostic services, and accessible radiology services.
    • Identifies models of care for such services that are currently working better than others, and resourcing other rural areas to apply the principles of these to their own community.
    • Enables the rapid development of hub and spoke models that increase access to health promotion, education, screening and diagnostics, will enhance clinical support for rural health professionals, and through telehealth clinics, provide an accessible option for wahine who choose to use this.
    • Te Whatu Ora Commissioning Service Coverage Schedules provide access standards that reflect the realities of delivering services, and accessing services rurally. These standards are reflected in National Pricing Frameworks, and provider performance against them monitored.

And most importantly:

    • We want to see clear data collected and reported for rural women in R1,2,3 areas, in order to monitor their health outcomes against national norms, and monitor progress (positive or negative) on an annual basis.

 

If we can ‘get it right’ for women who are living in rural and remote areas, with higher levels of social and economic deprivation (NZDepQuintile 4&5), we’ll get it right for everyone.

 

→  Click here to read the full submission  ←

750,000

people live rurally

194

Rural General Practices

31

Rural Hospitals

We have been successful in our advocacy in achieving

This will mean that Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora will need to develop a specific rural health plan and be measured against outcomes against the plan.

We have negotiated an increase in PRIME funding for those practices with PRIME contracts to be paid for medical emergencies for the first time ever.

We have contributed to the writing of the rural section of the Interim Health Plan.

The Interim Health Plan will have a commitment to a complete review of PRIME and afterhours care / contracts to make it fit-for-purpose and sustainable going forward.

We are currently working with Te Whatu Ora to build a rural after-hours and emergency telehealth system which will help reduce the burden on the understaffed rural workforce

We have negotiated funding for our Rural Health Careers Promotion Programme to tour rural schools and kura Kaupapa to promote rural health careers to young people in those schools.

We are currently working on a rural workforce plan (co-designed by the sector) that we will be advocating for with the Minister and the Health Agencies to implement.

 

Advocacy hot topic / He kaupapa wera mo te whakatairanga