Primary healthcare

This report illustrates how the NGO sector is a major provider of public and personal primary health care in New Zealand. It profiles 15 case studies of non-profit NGOs’ relationships with other health providers and their collaborative approaches to primary health care delivery. It also features insights from a 2011 online survey identifying common practices and experiences.

While the Better, Sooner, More Convenient approach has resulted in some progress, many aspects of primary health care function with little integration, co-ordination or collaboration with the community-based health and disability NGO sector.

It is up to a range of primary health stakeholders to identify next steps and determine how collectively, we can be more effective across the health sector. The Health and Disability NGO Working Group is keen to work with Ministry of Health staff, DHBs, PHOs and other funders and planners to explore what change is possible in order to improve outcomes.

The report

Key sections

Case studies

For all the difficulties experienced by NGOs within the primary health sector, wonderful things are being achieved – as the 15 case studies in the report show.

They cover acute nursing services, health information services, virtual practices, youth one-stop-shops, mental health networks, community development approaches, cardiac rehab, Whānau Ora and Asiasiga models of care, and more – from North to South.

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