The health care homes initiative means GPs are seeing more patients, a Southern District Health Board commissioners meeting heard yesterday.
HCHs, an integrated, modernised version of traditional general practice, is an initiative introduced last year by the SDHB/WellSouth primary and community health strategy.
Proponents said practices would use more telehealth and online services, with the result being doctors would see more patients whose conditions meant they needed a personal consultation.
Early data suggested that had been the case, WellSouth practice network director Paul Rowe told commissioners. One survey found more than 4200 people had been assessed by a GP over the phone, freeing up an additional 1711 doctor's appointments.
"By stopping people who don't necessarily need to be there from coming in, you are seeing the people who do need to be there.
"Hopefully, waiting lists to be seen will become a thing of the past."
Four practices became the first HCHs in November 2018, and they were now working on planning for their second year of operation, Mr Rowe said.
Five more practices were approved in March this year and an additional six practices started as HCHs in July.
Those 15 practices have a combined 120,000 patients.
In June alone, those people accessed their consultation notes 32,899 times via their online portal, booked 5758 appointments and ordered 2058 prescriptions.
The new HCHs are on a three-year rollout programme and lessons learned from their experiences were being applied as new practices started to make the transition, Mr Rowe said.
The framework for the region's first health care hubs - an expanded multi-disciplinary HCH - was being developed now, Mr Rowe said.
Two workshops had been held so far and planning work was now to be done on financial viability and design briefs.
An evaluation exercise was also planned to assess if the strategy was delivering better outcomes.
