In this week's blog post, Justin Butcher writes about what it actually takes to make progress in rural primary care, and why relationships are at the centre of it.

Rising fuel prices are already creating extra pressure for rural general practice, affecting everything from travel and PRIME callouts to supply costs and patient access. Our clinical director, Dr Jo Scott-Jones recently spoke to RNZ about what rural GPs are seeing on the ground, including concerns about transport, stock and the added cost of getting care.

A new Extended Care Paramedic (ECP) initiative has been launched in Northern Coromandel in response to community-identified health needs developed through locality planning and partnerships.

Pinnacle strongly disagrees with claims by Te Whatu Ora at a Building the Future of Health webinar series on Tuesday 7 May that up to 50 per cent of general practice work could be done by telehealth.

Ongoing use of the Pinnacle rural accelerated chest pain pathway by general practices has highlighted how point of care testing can improve health equity in rural communities, and reduce hospital referrals to overloaded emergency departments.

Every fortnight inside a whare at Parihaka Papakāinga in Taranaki, people can be found laughing and catching up with whānau in the Whakaihu Taiora clinic waiting room. They’re there because of a new health initiative designed to respond to community need.