May 09, 2023
Whānau Ora pushes health to communities
Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency chief executive John Tamihere says Māori providers can’t be limited by the traditional general practice model.
The agency is currently recruiting in the Philippines as it tries to fill a shortfall of 500 nurses and 87 GPs in its network of more than 200 clinics in the North Island.
He says providers are increasingly developing mobile services and using registered nurse prescribers, rather than allowing the GP clinic to be a choke point.
“We have to devolve our methodology out and then fire in to digital machines which are outstanding in regards to identifying any issues – strep throat, ear, noes, heartbeat, all that will be done out in the community, probably in the houses, and if there are any issues they will be flagged straight away and we will take them to the clinic,” Mr Tamihere says.
He says the model has the potential to reduce costs within the system.