Goal 7 of The Positive Ageing Strategy
Rural Services – older people living in rural communities are not disadvantaged when accessing services.
On this page:
New Zealand’s population is ageing at a faster rate in smaller towns and rural regions than it is in larger urban cities.
A number of other Strategy goals, notably those focusing on health and transport, have highlighted access issues for older people in rural areas.
Details below about this goal are taken from the 2014 report on the Positive Ageing Strategy, published in April 2015. Your feedback will help inform the next comprehensive update due to be carried out in 2017.
More information and references are available by downloading a full copy of the report.
Rural Services: key achievements
- Investigating better access to specialist health appointments
- Providing targeted information to those in rural regions
What’s happening?
People have limited access to health services in some rural areas
Many older people living in remote and rural areas (such as Northland, Taranaki and East Coast/ Tairāwhiti) have problems accessing health services, and those who require specialist care are likely to have to travel long distances for specialist appointments and procedures. In addition, the fact that many rural regions in New Zealand are ageing more quickly than urban areas means there is potential for even greater access disparities in the future.
Examples of services and programmes
South Canterbury DHB – Better co-ordination of specialist appointments
South Canterbury DHB is addressing a problem encountered by many of its older patients who suffer multiple conditions: the need to travel long distances to attend multiple appointments on different days in any given week. The DHB is establishing a pilot appointment co-ordination service involving a small group of patients in Twizel, which includes videoconferencing for some appointments. If it’s successful it may be extended throughout the DHB region.
MSD – Heartland Services
MSD operates 35 Heartland Services centres in provincial and remote rural communities nationwide, enabling people of all ages to access a range of government and non-government services in a single ‘one-stop shop’. In 2013/2014 about 98,000 people visited these centres for information and support.
So how are we doing?
Ageing in small towns and rural areas is often associated with higher morbidity (ill health) and mortality (death) rates, and lower life expectancy – and many older people in these areas are already seeing shortages in health, suitable housing and transport services.
As this report has already highlighted, the disparities that older people face in accessing services are likely to continue and could possibly widen, increasing the pressure on those in these communities to move to areas closer to services.