A growing need for emergency healthcare services in Wānaka needs to be addressed.

Wānaka is a close-knit and friendly community, with people willing to help one another out, but like many rural centres it has limited access to health care services. A health centre provides multidisciplinary services, but the nearest hospital care takes an hour's drive or a helicopter ride. After hours emergency services are provided by St John Ambulance, Land Search and Rescue, and Fire and Emergency. These personnel are under pressure with growing numbers of residents and visitors.

This was one of the health issues identified by our Nursing learners in a research project earlier this year. The learners spoke with stakeholders in the town as part of their community assessment. The review of the relevant literature showed that possible solutions to improve access to healthcare services in Wānaka include: a nurse practitioner led model, telehealth service, education to improve the knowledge base of emergency practitioners, and incentives to attract and retain healthcare staff.

The team of Nursing learners wrote a submission which outlined the need and suggested a range of ways this could be addressed. They sent this to the Minister of Health, Ayesha Verrall, and to Grant Davidson, CEO of the Rural Health Network. Grant Davidson replied, indicating that this reinforced his own thinking and he appreciated having more evidence to help seek policy change. He intended to share their submission with other rural health professionals at an upcoming meeting. 

• Work with our Nursing learners