Assignment on Healthcare in New Zealand

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Healthcare in New Zealand
Name of the Student
Affiliation
Course number
Name of the instructor
Due date

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Primary Health Care Strategy 2001
Task one
The healthcare setting of New Zealand is distinguished owing to the assortment of
private and public healthcare providers who deliver numerous healthcare services to residents
of the community. An ingenious healthcare system generally increases access of the public to
healthcare, with the aim of enhancing their health outcomes. The capability to access
healthcare resources is under the direct influence of admittance to physicians, obtainability of
primary care, affordability, density of physicians, and aptness of care delivered. The overall
health of the inhabitants of a republic is unswervingly proportional to the existing healthcare
systems, which encompass tertiary, secondary, and primary prevention. Though tertiary
prevention is all the time emphasised, there is sufficient confirmation in scholarly articles that
the impact of secondary and primary treatment is as significant as or perhaps greater than that
of tertiary prevention. With the introduction of the Primary Healthcare Strategy in the
healthcare system of New Zealand during December, 2000, there emerged the understanding
that presence of a strong primary healthcare system was imperative in order to address the
inequality gaps in health, which in turn would enhance public health outcomes. In the words
of Carryer (2017) primary healthcare is of utmost importance owing to the impact it creates
by decreasing the health disparities between dissimilar sections of the inhabitants.
The Ministry of Health (2001) has the visualisation of developing a novel health
policy that will encourage individuals for actively participate in the native primary healthcare
services, following which efforts shall be taken to improve the overall health of the populace
by elimination of health inequalities. Even though the then existing health services in the
nation aimed to deliver excellent quality care to all inhabitants, there were poorly
incorporated in the society and were extremely segmented (World Health Organization,
2008). The aforementioned novel method emphasised on the significance of primary care to

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diminish the ascending charge and encumbrance of secondary care by improved coordination
of a range of healthcare disciplines. They also shifted the focus to population health, in
contrast to health of individuals. The high expenditure of clinical care prohibited numerous
New Zealanders to gain access to healthcare facilities (Jatrana & Crampton, 2009). Taking
into consideration the prevailing health differences and unequal access to healthcare
amenities, the novel health strategy proved imperative to the nation.
The advanced healthcare strategy concentrated on snowballing the funding for
primary care services, developed several primary health organizations, presented extremely
low-cost healthcare access scheme, altered the manner of funding for the primary healthcare
providers depending on capitated imbursement standard compared to fee for service, and
emphasised on sooner, better, more suitable healthcare initiatives, all with the aim of
enhancing public health. Certainly, the shift was distinguished to emphasise on population
requirements at the micro-level and an estimated six critical instructions were associated with
the vision. These were namely, coordination of efforts within the local groups and registered
populations, accomplishing a decrease in health disparities, enhancing the access of residents
to all-inclusive healthcare services, enhancing coordination of care across the system,
developing and improving workforce of primary healthcare, and uninterruptedly augmenting
the quality of care (Ministry of Health, 2001).
Similar to other populaces, the residents of New Zealand were also affected by the
veracity of cancer, and the consequences it has on health and wellbeing. Based on reports
published by the Ministry of Health (2019) cancer had been identified as the foremost reason
for death in New Zealand. An estimated 23000 individuals get diagnosed with cancer every
year, with around 10,000 deaths. This in turn resulted in the formulation of the cancer action
plan with the aim of enhancing co-operation amid healthcare providers and patients, for
preventing, facilitating early diagnosis, management, and aftercare. With the establishment of

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the New Zealand Cancer Plan, efforts were taken by the Ministry of Health not only to reduce
cancer incidence, but also to increase access of residents to primary care services that helped
in early detection (Ministry of Health, 2014).
An additional objective of the aforementioned plan was to increase right to use
population screening services, which in turn would help in triage of patients to high-quality
cancer amenities, without any postponement. This was followed by Cancer Plan of 2014 that
intended to invest several dollars for enhancing cancer services. The positive impacts of
primary care services can be associated to quality improvement campaigns, prostate cancer
awareness and the Healthy Families New Zealand movement that promotes exercise and food
for cancer prevention. According to Richards et al. (2007), several investigations have been
conducted with the aim of elucidating cancer patterns amid New Zealanders where several
participants were able to identify at least one aspect that should have been avoided for
decreasing cancer incidence. Formulation and execution of the Faster Cancer Treatment
Programme helped in decreasing the lag time for engagements and also executed well-
devised care strategies in the native communities. Hence, the evidences cited above support
the visualisation of the Primary Health Strategy, 2001.
Mitchell et al. (2014) combined primary-secondary care models and conducted a
systematic review in order to classify the extent of influence on practitioners, patient health
outcomes, care delivered, and resource intake. It was found that the cohesive model
considerably enhanced care service delivery methods at an inexpensive rate. A well-
formulated primary healthcare system incorporated for communicating with the tertiary and
secondary services is unquestionably perfect for nurturing an interdisciplinary health
approach that best fits the needs of patients requiring complex care. Not only do primary
healthcare services facilitate identification of risk factors but also enable easy determination
of disease prognosis by guaranteeing appropriate medical management. For example,