Media release

From: New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)

The study surveyed over 160 New Zealand general practitioners, practice nurses and nurse practitioners over a period of 16 weeks from May last year, examining how they dealt with the pandemic-induced change to healthcare delivery and, for this paper, their perceptions of delayed patient care. We found patients were noted to display different health-seeking behaviours and that there were health system contributors to delayed care, including difficulty referring patients to secondary (hospital-based) care. Certain medical conditions were more commonly impacted, with one general practitioner noting that “Covid did distract us from other diagnosis especially in early days.” These experiences have highlighted a number of ways to minimise future delayed care from pandemic disruption, including reducing barriers to patients seeking care and improving integration and relationships across the health system.

Key Points

• Patients minimised symptoms, avoided seeking healthcare and feared going out during lockdown.
• Non-essential care was put on hold, and access to secondary care was variable.
• Primary care encountered a backlog of work once lockdown was lifted.