 Ministry
of Health
NZ
Government
©Copyright
Published:
16/04/2010
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Proposed
changes to Primary Care
In late 2009 the
Ministry of Health called for
expressions of interest to
deliver ‘Better, Sooner, More
Convenient Primary Care’. Three
groups across the Auckland
region have been established to
do so – Alliance Health+, the
Greater Auckland Integrated
Health Network (GAIHN) and the
National Māori PHO Coalition.
More information can be found
here.
What
are Primary Health
Organisations?
Primary Health Organisations or
PHOs are the local structures
for delivering and co-ordinating
primary health care services.
PHOs bring together doctors,
nurses and other health
professionals (such as Maori
health workers, health promotion
workers, dieticians,
pharmacists, physiotherapists,
psychologists and midwives) in
the community to serve the needs
of their enrolled populations.
PHOs can vary widely in size,
structure, philosophy and are
not-for-profit. The first PHOs
were established in July 2002
and there are now 81 PHOs around
the country. DHBs worked with
local communities and provider
organisations to establish PHOs
in their regions.
The Minister of Health released
a set of minimum requirements
that guided the establishment of
PHOs, and set out standards that
PHOs must meet. This includes a
requirement that PHOs will give
communities, iwi and enrolled
people the opportunity to have
their say about the services
PHOs provide.
What are the benefits of
belonging to a PHO?
People will be part of local
primary health care services
that improve their health, keep
them well, are easy to get to
and co-ordinate their ongoing
care.
Primary health care services
will focus on better health for
a population, and actively work
to reduce health inequalities
between different groups.
People can expect more
affordable primary health care
services. For example; lower
costs of doctors visits and
pharmaceutical charges
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