New Zealand’s rural hospitals in 2021: findings from an exploratory questionnaire survey
Katharina Blattner
1 * , Lynne Clay 2 , Rory Miller 3 , Garry Nixon 4 , Sue Crengle 5 , Lauralie Richard 6 , Ray Anton 7 , Tim Stokes 6
1 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Omāpere New Zealand.
2 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Hāwea, New Zealand.
3 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Whangamata, New Zealand.
4 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Clyde, New Zealand.
5 Ngāi Tahu Māori Health Research Unit, Division of Health Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
6 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
7 Rural Hospital Network, Clutha Health First, 9-11 Charlotte Street, Balclutha, New Zealand.
Journal of Primary Health Care 14(3) 254-258 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC22072
Published: 18 August 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Introduction: There is a gap in our knowledge of the place and contribution of rural hospitals in the New Zealand health system. There is no current description of rural hospital services, no national policies and little published research regarding their value.
Aim: To explore rural hospital leader perspectives of the role of rural hospitals.
Methods: An on-line survey of rural hospital leaders conducted to capture perspectives on areas including facility nomenclature; access and equity; funding and the health reforms.
Results: Fifty-five rural hospital leaders representing 19/24 rural hospitals responded. ‘Rural Hospital’ was the most common term used to describe facilities with 80% of respondents indicating this as their preferred term. Other descriptive terms varied widely from primary through to secondary care. Respondents indicated that the loss of rural hospital in-patient beds would be unacceptable to communities (median 0, IQR 0, 1). Scores on questions about ‘range of services’ (median 7, IQR 6, 8), ‘accessibility’ (median 7, IQR 6, 8) and how rural hospitals were addressing health equity (median 6, IQR 5, 7) were variable. The process for allocating funds to rural hospitals was perceived as lacking transparency (median 3, IQR 2, 5). National strategy and ‘local governance and control’ were both rated as important (median 9, IQR 7, 10 and median 9, IQR, 8, 10) for a rural hospital’s future.
Discussion: By capturing a collective national rural hospital leadership voice, this study facilitates the understanding of the rural hospital concept. The findings inform subsequent research needed to gain a clearer picture of New Zealand rural hospital provision.
Keywords: community hospitals, health inequities, rural and remote health, rural health policy, rural healthcare services, rural hospitals, rural proofing.
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