Credit: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

The digitalisation of New Zealand’s GP services, brought about by Covid-19, may pave the way to an expansion of telehealth services, with the potential to permanently change the primary care landscape, according to a study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

Nargis Mashal, a PhD candidate at the University of Canterbury’s Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, interviewed staff from 16 GP centres about how they adapted existing practice systems to offer telehealth services during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. Electronic referral systems, video consultations and Manage My Health were already in place, but were being used inefficiently or not at all, Mashal told NZ Doctor. However, the circumstances forced the slow-moving bureaucratic system to adapt, with some primary care staff telling her they did three years digitalisation work in 48 hours when the first lockdown was announced.

Mashal concluded that it remains to be seen how the rapid change effected in 2020 correlates with patient satisfaction and how the resulting digitalisation capabilities will impact future primary care services.