The study had a qualitative design, using qualitative content analysis. The study was conducted in South Island, New Zealand, and included nine different rural hospitals.

In this paper, 10% of acute hospital admissions, transfers and arranged admissions for Māori are to hospitals outside of their home domicile which increases with higher levels of deprivation.

How rurality is defined matters, both from a policy and service delivery perspective, and for rural populations and communities.

A substantial minority of both Māori and European liver cancer patients must travel more than 200km for their first primary liver surgery, and this situation appears worse for Māori. This research has important implications for rural communities – which have a higher proportion of Māori residents than urban areas – and there are likely to be similar situations with other essential health services.

Diabetes is a leading cause of blindness in New Zealanders, yet a significant proportion of patients with diabetes are not reached by diabetes eye screening. 

Climate change is already affecting Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa-NZ). The public health effects are varied and complex, and rural primary care staff will be at the front line of effects and responses. However, little is known about their understanding and experience.