Government aims to deliver city-level services to rural communities
The Government wants to make sure that rural communities get a level of service that people who live in cities often complacently expect.
OPINION: Just as the entire country’s health system moved into a new structure last week, a fresh Rural Health Network was also launched.
Hauora Taiwhenua brings into one organisation nine separate groups who work in the rural health sector – including those working as Rural GPs, nurses, midwives, hospitals, researchers, community organisations and Maori.
According to the entity’s interim chair Dr Fiona Bolden, the main benefit of the new organisation is that it brings all the representatives of rural health and wellbeing into one place. She says, in doing so, it creates a very powerful voice in terms of rural health advocacy.
As Bolden says, this is a crucial time for the NZ health service as the new reforms take effect. NZ’s health service – especially rural – is suffering from underfunding and a lack of workforce planning.
One of the problems with the rural health system is what is known as the ‘post code lottery’, where health services are delivered on artificial boundaries and not necessarily relevant communities of interest.
Dr Bryan Betty, medical director of the College of General Practitioners, rightly points out that it’s important for patients with complex health issues and/or living in deprived areas to have quick access to frontline medical services – which is a real issue for many rural folk.
He hopes that the new structure of the country’s health services will bring an end to the ‘post code lottery’ that everyone talks about. That is something we all, particularly those in rural regions, are hopeful of.
However, as rural people are only too aware, postcodes and mail deliveries can sometimes be slow and unreliable. But when it comes to the health of rural communities this cannot be allowed to happen.
As Brian Betty correctly says, it’s an equity issue to ensure that we are giving equal health outcomes to all people in NZ and that includes rural communities.
It is a matter of life and death that these changes to NZ’s health system actually deliver!
Newly appointed National Fieldays chief executive Richard Lindroos says his team is ready, excited and looking forward to delivering the four-day event next month.
More than 70 farmers from across the North and South Islands recently spent a dayand- a-half learning new business management and planning skills at Rabobank Ag Pathways Programmes held in Invercargill, Ashburton and Hawera.
Government ministers cannot miss the ‘SOS’ – save our sheep call - from New Zealand farmers.
A tax advisory specialist is hailing a 20% tax deduction to spur business asset purchases as a golden opportunity for agribusiness.
Sheep and beef farmers have voted to approve Beef + Lamb New Zealand signing an operational agreement between the agricultural sector and the Government on foot and mouth disease readiness and response.
The head of the New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers organisation NZKGI says the points raised in a report about the sector by Waikato University professor Frank Scrimgeour were not a surprise.
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