Research confirms primary care pro-equity approaches improve diabetes care

At Pinnacle Health our commitment to health equity goes beyond words — it is backed by evidence. Our medical director, Dr Jo Scott-Jones, recently joined partners in academia to examine how primary care can close gaps and improve outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes.  

Supported by the New Zealand Health Research Council, this research confirms what we see in practice: 

• direct support and mentoring of nursing teams lifts the quality of diabetes management
• pro-equity initiatives in primary care can reduce inequities in access to medicines
• rural communities, particularly Māori, continue to face barriers in access to prescribing and lab testing — an area demanding urgent focus. 

This work shows the value of strong partnerships between healthcare providers, researchers and universities, and Pinnacle is proud to be actively engaging in such partnerships. 

The research is published across several recent studies with the University of Waikato and academic partners.

• Type 2 Diabetes Management in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Primary Care Clinics (Australian Journal of Rural Health, 2025).  
• Real world initiation of newly funded empagliflozin and dulaglutide under special authority for patients with type 2 diabetes in New Zealand (BMC Health Services Research, 2025).
• Impact of a clinical diabetes specialist mentoring programme on type 2 diabetes management among nurses in primary care: a qualitative study (Journal of Primary Health Care, 2025).  

We remain steadfast to our role in driving equitable and evidence-based healthcare, ensuring whānau across Aotearoa can access the right care at the right time wherever they are. 

He waka eke noa — we’re all in this together.

Mauri ora.