Last week was a busy one for Health Action Wānaka (HAW), whose members attended not only the rural road show in Wānaka with Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey, but also met with Health Minister Simeon Brown in Auckland.

HAW steering committee chair Monique Mayze told the Wānaka App that Simeon appeared “very receptive” to what HAW had to say.

“We shared with him the many challenges our community is facing when it comes to accessing healthcare, challenges which are compounded by our geographical isolation and rapid growth,” she said.

HAW also gave the minister a detailed overview of each of the group’s ‘quick wins’, identified in the group’s report ‘Perception versus reality: the true state of healthcare in the Upper Clutha’.

The report, which was released in April, identifies significant unmet needs, systemic barriers, and a lack of strategic health planning for the Upper Clutha.

Read more: Healthcare crisis for Upper Clutha - report

From left: HAW’s Trish Fraser with Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey, Miles Anderson MP, ADL chief executive Clive McArthur, ADL Central Lakes service leader Warren Scott, and Rural Minister Mark Patterson last week. PHOTO: HAW

The quick wins identified by HAW are: 

• Introduction of psychiatric consultations via telehealth for NGO and community frontline mental health and addiction services in this region within 12 months.
• Delivery of a publicly funded blood collection service in Wānaka within two years.
• Increase in local access to publicly funded radiology services via the government’s $30M funding boost announced in July 2024.

“The minister committed to discuss the three ‘quick wins’ with Health New Zealand and to come back to us with a plan,” Monique said.

“We will be meeting with Health New Zealand senior officials in the coming weeks, and will seek an update from them on what progress has been made.”

She said HAW also discussed the National Travel Assistance scheme with the minister, and explained the difficulties people have when seeking to meet the eligibility criteria to receive compensation for health-related travel.

He “expressed surprise at the problems we identified and was keen to learn more”, she said, and HAW plans to write to him with more information on the issue.

“We want to see the scheme re-designed so people in rural communities like ours can be fairly compensated for mileage and accommodation costs incurred as a result of having to travel so far to access healthcare services.

The travel assistance scheme was one of a range of issues also raised at the rural health roadshow on Tuesday (July 1), as was a clinical services review of the district currently underway by Health NZ.

HAW believes locals should not have to wait until the review is completed to see action on the proposed ‘quick wins’.

“Our quick wins respond to well-documented health service inequities in the Upper Clutha community, and there is no reason why steps cannot be taken now to start implementing the solutions we have proposed,” Monique said.

Read more: ‘No hope of much change’ following health roadshow