Health-care homes first wave

Amity Health Centre’s health-care homes change management team (from left) practice nurse Anna...
Amity Health Centre’s health-care homes change management team (from left) practice nurse Anna Boyd, practice manager Catherine Daly-Reeve and general practitioner Susie Lawless gather at the centre, which has been named as one of the first health-care homes in the Southern region. PHOTO: JESSICA WILSON
Changes to primary health-care services have come to Otago and Southland with the launch of the first wave of health-care home (HCH) general practices.

Dunedin's Amity Health Centre is one of the first four general practices to be named Southern HCH practices by the Southern District Health Board and WellSouth Primary Health Network.

The others are the Queenstown Medical Centre, Gore Health Centre and Gore Medical Centre.

The HCH model promotes access to urgent and unplanned care, and provides more preventive care and better support of people with complex needs.

It also emphasises greater flexibility, including more online interaction between patients and doctors, and the increasing use of e-consultations and video consultations.

Amity Health Centre general practitioner Dr Susie Lawless said the HCH philosophy aligned well with the changes already under way at the practice.

``We already have over 75% of our eligible patients using a patient portal to make appointments, email their doctor or nurse, keep an eye on their own results and recalls, and to request repeats of regular medication,'' Dr Lawless said.

``The model will give patients a lot more autonomy in how they run their health care.''

While the model would be helpful for urban practices such as Amity Health Centre, it would be even more so for rural practices, where patients had to travel much greater distances to visit their GP, she said.

Dr Lawless also said, with a looming workforce crisis in New Zealand - the average age of GPs is 57 and 50% are planning to retire in the next 15 years - it was important to find ways to work more efficiently.

The second group of GP practices migrating to the new HCH model later this year will include the Meridian Medical Centre, Mataora and Broadway Medical Centre in Dunedin, along with centres in Invercargill, Cromwell and Wanaka.

A further five practices will begin the programme in mid-2019, including the Mornington Health Centre and North End Health Centre in Dunedin.

In total, the new HCH general practices will provide primary health-care services to around 120,000 people - about 40% percent of patients enrolled with a GP in the Southern district.

Elsewhere in New Zealand, there are already nearly 130 HCH general practices providing care for close to 1million patients.

BRENDA.HARWOOD @thestar.co.nz

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