Strong Interest In Proposed New Primary Health Organisation

General practices across New Zealand have shown strong interest in a proposed new Primary Health Organisation (PHO) that aims to reduce bureaucracy and direct more funding to front-line patient care.

A call for expressions of interest attracted 116 general practices, representing about 833,000 enrolled patients. If all these practices proceed, the new PHO would become the largest in the country, covering around 16 percent of New Zealand’s total enrolled population.

Attention is now focused on Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand, which is considering an application to approve the establishment of the new PHO. A decision is expected early next week, enabling the PHO to be established on 1 July next year. Practices must give six months’ notice to their current PHO by Wednesday, 31 December.

Primary health organisations sit between Te Whatu Ora, which funds healthcare services, and primary healthcare providers such as general practices.

“While we remain cautious about the final number of practices that ultimately join, we are very pleased with the strong positive response,” says Dr Angus Chambers, Chair of the General Practice Owners Association (GenPro).

“We anticipated there would be significant interest but reaching more than 800,000 enrolled patients from interested practices so quickly is very encouraging,” Dr Chambers says. “It clearly shows that practices are looking for an alternative to the status quo.”

GenPro is supporting the application because the proposed PHO aligns closely with its commitment to sustainable, high-quality, and accessible primary care for all New Zealanders. The new PHO will be organisationally independent of GenPro, ensuring GenPro can continue its advocacy role without any conflict of interest.

“The level of interest demonstrates clear demand for a lean, cost-effective PHO that reduces administrative burden and allows more funding to flow directly to high-quality, sustainable, accessible, and equitable front-line patient care,” Dr Chambers says.

GenPro represents the owners and providers of general practices and urgent care centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.
 

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