A stroke patient was among hundreds of patients at Kaitāia Hospital given a virtual consultation. Photo / 123RF
A patient advocate says it is “unacceptable and Third World” that hundreds of patients coming into Kaitāia Hospital each month are treated through telehealth, instead of seeing an on-site doctor.
Health NZ say the digital consultations provide support at times of high demand and are monitored by clinical staff.
An average of 210 patients per month received a digital health consult at the hospital between January 2023 and March 2025, according to official information released by Health NZ to the Northern Advocate.
This is an average of 16.6% of patients presenting at Kaitāia’s emergency Accident and Medical department each month.
The virtual consults have been in place in Northland hospitals since 2020 but have largely remained under the radar.
The alarm about their inadequacies was raised earlier this year, when a stroke patient was allowed to go home from Kaitāia Hospital without medication or scans.
The man’s wife, Sharon, who asked for her husband to be kept anonymous to protect his privacy, said after waiting several hours and seeing an after-hours GP, her husband was assessed by telehealth.
The US-based doctor allowed them to leave after a digital consultation of about 20 minutes.
“The doctor said ‘just monitor him’. I didn’t know what to monitor him for.”
Several days after the incident, with her husband still unwell, Sharon rang their GP clinic in Auckland and was advised to take him straight to Auckland City Hospital’s neurology department.
The patient ended up being hospitalised for a week and had intensive occupational therapy for a month.
Sharon said he is still recovering from the stroke, which occurred in January.
She is unsure if earlier hospital treatment would have made a difference to his recovery but is still shocked a virtual consult is all that was offered a stroke patient.
Patient advocate Malcolm Mulholland, from Patient Voice Aotearoa, said people are angry when they hear this example of digital consults in Northland hospitals.
He said it was outrageous that hundreds of patients are assessed this way each month, at Kaitāia Hospital alone.
“At the very least, there should be a level of transparency as to what service patients are going to receive at the hospital.
“To think that there are patients turning up in emergency situations and can’t be seen, and don’t know that until they get to the hospital, is unacceptable and Third World. Patients deserve honest information from Health NZ.”
Mulholland said the virtual consults appear to be offered at Kaitāia, Bay of Islands and Dargaville Hospitals, which have all been struggling to retain doctors.
“The only reason they [Health NZ] are doing this is because we don’t have the level of staff needed and that’s because we don’t pay enough - it’s like a broken record.”
Health NZ said digital consults were introduced in 2020 to Northland’s rural hospitals and medical facilities by the then-Northland District Health Board, to provide support during times of high patient demand or capacity shortages.
A new agreement under Health NZ was put in place in March 2023.
Te Tai Tokerau acting group director of operations Andrew Howes said the consults, which he called “virtual medical staffing support”, are used in other areas across the country but he would not specify where.
Health NZ clinical staff decide which patients are suitable for virtual consultations and work collaboratively with the digital health provider to ensure patient care is delivered effectively, he said.
This includes patient records being updated with treatment notes from the virtual consult, Howes said.
Recruitment is under way for the eight senior doctor vacancies across Kaitāia, Bay of Islands and Dargaville Hospitals, he said.
“We continue to manage rosters and use locums as required to ensure the needs of the community are met.”
In answer to written parliamentary questions earlier this year, Health Minister Simeon Brown said the US-based doctor was engaged through a private provider, Emergency Consult.
At Kaitāia Hospital’s Accident and Medical, senior medical staff are rostered on-site from 7am to 10pm, and are available on-call within 15 minutes outside these hours, he said.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.