Government’s health focus encouraging, but primary care needs clear investment

- Justin Butcher

After a week of significant daily health announcements last week, the government confirmed five key priorities for Te Whatu Ora Health NZ, including “fixing primary healthcare to ensure Kiwis have timely access to a doctor.”

Pinnacle welcomes the focus on strengthening primary care access, investment in general practice, and commitments to digital health infrastructure. With the release of the government’s health delivery plan and its six-monthly milestones, we look forward to seeing real action against the plan and welcome the opportunity to contribute meaningfully — and quickly!

The focus on improving primary healthcare, services in the community and local decision-making is encouraging. We welcome the acknowledgment that general practice access needs urgent attention, along with investment in digital infrastructure to help reduce administrative burdens and improve patient care. However, the details on how primary care will be funded and supported to deliver on these priorities remain unclear.

One noticeable omission across last week’s announcements is equity.

While we fully support system improvements that benefit all New Zealanders, it’s concerning that equity wasn’t mentioned in any of the policy changes. We must ensure that those with the highest need — including Māori, Pasifika, rural communities — aren’t left behind in a universal approach.

An example was the government’s funding reallocation from the regional pilots of targeted bowel screening for Māori and Pasifika (from age 50) to a universal age of 58 ignores the well-documented disparities.

Pinnacle also notes the government’s increased emphasis on outsourcing planned surgeries to the private sector, which raises questions about long-term system sustainability, workforce and affordability.

Partnering with the private sector may be a short-term solution to address waitlists, but we need to ensure this doesn’t create a two-tier system where those who can afford private care get seen first. Investing in a strong, well-funded public healthcare system, including primary care, will deliver better outcomes in the long run.

The government’s new direction signals a shift toward local decision-making, and we’re interested to see how this will be implemented in practice to address the bureaucracy and inefficiencies which have delayed progress and impacted patient care.

We welcome the opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the solutions. If the Government truly wants to ‘fix’ primary healthcare, we need a renewed focus on equity to ensure these priorities are backed by real action. The government appears to have acknowledged many of the concerns of primary care, and after a week of daily health announcements, it’s reasonable to feel cautiously optimistic about the future of primary care.

To read more information on the March 2025 primary care announcements, visit the Ministry of Health Manatū Hauora website.