The Southern Clinical Network was launched in Queenstown last Sunday by South Link Health.
Executive director Prof Murray Tilyard said while South Link Health covered the majority of general practices in the South Island, the new network aimed to meet the demand for an Otago-Southland grouping focusing on improving care between the primary and secondary health care.
''The clear focus is on providing clinical support for general practices and a key feature is the development of a new clinical governance group of leading clinicians from general practice and secondary care across the region.''
Given the health sector's resource constraints, there was recognition of some obvious wastage in the system, such as around referrals to the public health system, that could be avoided, he said.
The network would aim to see that doctors had the resources, training and facilities to ensure they were able to refer patients at the right time to the right place and also to offer additional services.
''But the resources have to grow with it.''
Such a network would also provide economies of scale when it came to investing in new technology that could speed up and improve practices' services, he said.
The network was a stand-alone organisation, separate from South Link Health, with its own governance board.
