Research shows patients enjoying new model of primary care

Midlands Health Network’s new model of care has been well received by patients with 85 per cent satisfied in all aspects of the service they receive and the options available to access their health care team.

Midlands Health Network is trialling the model of care at three NorthCare practices to improve patients’ engagement in their health care, provide better access to the general practice team and more efficiently and effectively utilise primary care resources. NorthCare patients were surveyed by researchers of the National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis at the University of Waikato to evaluate their experience of, and satisfaction with, the service provided at NorthCare.

The research shows patients like the range of ways to access their health care team, including through the online patient portal, phone and face-to-face. Doctor and nurse consultations scored good or great by 95 per cent and 94 per cent of respondents. 15 per cent of respondents had emailed their doctor online and 32 per cent had had a telephone consultation.

Patients told researchers “Emails from the doctor have been great; it’s great to have some sort of follow up, for example, he emailed to confirm that I was taking the right antibiotics,” and “He gave me the prescription over the phone without having to go in and that saved me time and money.”

The new patient access centre and system-initiated contacts to provide proactive health care also scored highly with 81 per cent of patients saying contacting the practice was easy or fairly easy, and 93 per cent saying system-generated calls were good or great. Patients said a system-generated contact made them feel special and it demonstrated a high quality service. One patient said “I didn’t expect it - it made me feel like I was being treated as an individual that they wanted to check up on.” Another said “It was very good that the doctor bothered to call me at home - I think that is great service and it was very impressive.”

John Macaskill-Smith, CEO of Midlands Health Network, says the results are pleasing and show the new model of care is having a positive impact on patients’ experience of the health system.

“Patients are more engaged in their health care and the vast majority are really happy with the new changes,” says John.

“We are still in a learning phase and will be continually working with clinicians to improve the way services are delivered to patients. As we make improvements and implement new parts of the model of care, we will make sure patients feel supported, as they have been over the last 12 months by the dedicated team at NorthCare.

“The survey has clearly demonstrated to us that some patients cope better with change than others. For the patients who struggled using the new systems, we need to make sure we have processes in place to support these patients so they can get the most out of the opportunities available to them through the model of care,” says John.

Midlands Health Network’s model of care is currently being rolled out at SouthCare in Hawera and will soon be implemented at Health Te Aroha and Mercury Bay Medical Centre.

ENDS

Date: 19 June 2012

For more information contact:
John Macaskill-Smith
CEO - Midlands Health Network
Phone: 07 858 5955 or 027 587 1609
Email: johnms@midlandshn.health.nz