We were surprised and disappointed to hear in Te Whatu Ora’s ‘Building the Future of Health’ webinar on Tuesday 7 May, and subsequently reported in New Zealand Doctor, that the agency believes that up to 50% of general practice work could be done by telehealth.

We would like to see the evidence behind this claim.

While telehealth services can be a valuable tool, suggesting that up to half of all GP appointments could be conducted online disregards the importance of continuity of care and the value of face-to-face interaction between patients and their general practice team.

Our general practice teams are valued members of our communities and have strong relationships with whānau in their community. They can make decisions that, without the wider picture or context, can easily be missed.

We’ve seen the positive impact of telehealth initiatives like CareHQ and Whakarongorau, which support patients when they are unable to see their normal GP or another GP in their practice. However, the telehealth model is a supplementary model to traditional, in-person care and is not a permanent solution for a workforce shortage.

We strongly believe that telehealth should not be seen as a replacement for face-to-face appointments.

We also question the estimates that 20% of GP work could be managed through physiotherapy. While physios can certainly help ease some of the workload of GPs as part of a wider primary care team, we disagree that 20% of their work could be managed in this way.

We understand that this figure comes from some NHS reporting, however, perhaps we need to be thinking about taking a more innovative approach to primary care in Aotearoa.

We are aware that our counterparts at other PHOs have also expressed their shock and disagreement with the statements made on behalf of Te Whatu Ora.

We would welcome discussions with Te Whatu Ora to clarify its position and further explore the role of telehealth in supporting primary care.

We reiterate our previous calls for the government to appropriately fund the entire healthcare workforce in order to retain our workforce and enable our population to live well.