CLICK HERE TO READ – March 2026

Kia ora tātou

As I write this message, there are only seven sleeps until we host the 21st World Rural WONCA Conference here at Tākina Conference Centre in Wellington. I am amazed at the effort that our small team has put into organising this event, along with the support of a much wider group of passionate helpers from across our Network.

On April 10th, we will be welcoming over 850 delegates from 44 countries. We have close to 300 presentations over 4 days, including some inspirational keynote speakers and challenging panel sessions. Make sure you visit the exhibition stands, network with peers and enjoy the stunning Kiwiana-focussed food offerings. For the first time, we have a community of Māori artisans and exponents of Rongoa Māori displaying their art, skills and knowledge at our Ahi Kā hub. This will offer conference attendees the opportunity to engage with Māori worldviews of health and wellbeing, observe creative practice, and take time to kōrero within a culturally grounded environment.

Behind the scenes, we have been working hard with our chapter members and the wider sector to create three important documents we will be launching at the conference. The Aotearoa New Zealand Declaration on Rural Health 2026 that outlines a set of actions that could really progress the health of rural communities. Our first Rural Digital Health Action Plan to help harness the innovation of technology in a rural setting. The 2026 Rural Health Snapshot that collates evidence-based research that gives a picture of the status of rural health outcomes across the motu – utilising the second iteration of the Geographical Classification for Health based on 2023 Census data.

We have heaps of people and an impressive group of sponsors to thank, without whom the Conference would never have got beyond an idea. If this short message inspires you to join us all, it is not too late to be the 851st delegate next Friday. The Awards Ceremony alone, including late night dancing with local band Superbad, will be worth the journey!

While arranging the Conference, simultaneously, there are some critical discussions underway to consider different funding proposals and funding levels for general practice in the 2026/27 year. Utilising evidence-based data, a new capitation formula is being considered that, if agreed to, would fund practices based on the workload posed by the client mix of that practice. Gender, age, social deprivation, co-morbidity and rurality of each patient will provide a funding level for each patient. This is quite different to the existing capitation model that has a fixed amount per patient, irrespective of their health need. A new rural-funding formula is also being discussed based on the cost for practices doing business in rural and remote areas. Increased costs arise due to getting staff to work in rural areas, employing/transporting locums, buying supplies, sending staff to training events and hiring facilities. The more remote a practice is, the higher these costs are, and therefore the more rural funding that a practice should receive.

While these new funding formulas make sense from a first principles point of view, if there is no increase in the pools of money, then the existing money will need to be redistributed. If this happens, there will be winners (practices getting more money than last year) and losers (practices getting less money than last year). The best solution would be to increase the ‘pot of money’ so that there are no losers, but those practices that have shown to be in greater need (more complex patients or higher business costs) would get increased funding. We will certainly be arguing for an increased funding pool to ease this transition. All practices are under financial pressures that we don’t wish to make worse.

We will be in touch with practices as soon as we are able to share some of the key issues under discussion, and what decisions rural practices want to make, given the options on the table. In the current restricted fiscal conditions that the Government is operating under, there are likely to be some tough choices to be made.

I look forward to seeing you next week at Conference and progressing some of these important funding discussions next week and beyond.

Ngā mihi

Grant