Community-led advocacy group Health Action Wānaka (HAW) will conduct a focus group for healthcare providers who deliver services to the Upper Clutha community to learn more about what’s working well and what could be improved.

Focus group facilitator and HAW steering committee member Trish Fraser said HAW hoped to include as many health practitioners as possible in the focus group.

“We are interested in talking to GPs, nurses, health administrators, allied health professionals, mental health practitioners, midwives, radiographers/sonographers, medical specialists, and anyone else involved in providing healthcare,” she said.

“The focus group with healthcare providers will build on the information we collected during our focus groups with community members last month.

“We plan to share our findings with our community, along with the Minister for Health, decision makers at Health New Zealand, and other health system stakeholders.”

Trush said the isolation of the Upper Clutha and the inequities faced here mean healthcare providers face particular challenges.

“For example, a report prepared by the Centre for Health Systems and Technologies (CHeST) at the University of Otago found that 54 percent of GP referrals to specialist care were declined in the Southern region - the highest in the country in 2022.”

This can compromise patient care and also puts more financial and time pressure on general practices as they try to manage these patients’ conditions in primary care, Trish said.

Rapid population growth is also putting pressure on healthcare providers, she said.

It “creates challenges for our healthcare providers especially when you consider the ‘peak days’ we experience as a resort town where the numbers of people requiring access to healthcare spikes dramatically without any additional funding to deliver this care.”

Trish said local healthcare providers “do an amazing job in sometimes very difficult circumstances”.

Health practitioners can register their interest in attending the upcoming focus group by phoning Trish on 0274 435 241 or emailing [email protected]

It will be held on Thursday August 29, 6pm-8pm, at the Wānaka Community Hub (34 McDougall Street).

HAW is also conducting an online survey to better understand the healthcare needs of people living in the Upper Clutha community.

Health Action Wānaka is a community-led advocacy group committed to achieving equitable access to health services for the Upper Clutha community. 

PHOTO: Supplied