23 April 2015

Patients take more control of their own health

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman has today launched a campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of patient portals.

“Patient portals are a secure online site which gives New Zealanders access to their health information at any time of day,” says Dr Coleman.

“The portal site enables patients to manage aspects of their own healthcare, such as booking appointments, requesting repeat prescriptions and messaging clinical staff directly.

“In addition to giving patients more control over their own healthcare, patient portals reduce the time general practice staff spend on administrative tasks.

“More than 40,000 people from 132 general practices already have access to a patient portal. It’s a great start, and now we are looking to accelerate the uptake to give even more New Zealanders easy, convenient access to their health information.”

Dr Coleman launched the awareness campaign at Medplus Family Medical Centre on Auckland’s North Shore, which has seen more than a quarter of its patients register for the patient portal since it launched the service in January 2014.

The campaign will target doctors, nurses and practice managers as well as patients through print and online advertisements.

Earlier this year, Dr Coleman approved a $3 million funding boost to give more New Zealanders access to patient portals. This includes $500,000 for the awareness campaign.

The remaining funding will be spent on tools and support for general practices signing up to use patient portals.

Further information about patient portals can be found at:www.patientportals.co.nz.

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