Care HQ virtual GP service - the first 12 months

CareHQ is a virtual GP service developed in partnership between ProCare and Southern Cross and announced in late-November 2020. We are twelve months in from launch now and, as New Zealand learns to live with COVID-19, tele-health starts to become a truly essential service.

With patients largely isolating at home now, and needing constant access to support from GPs and monitoring symptoms, there are great benefits of CareHQ as a resource for the sector. CareHQ has been well received by GPs as an after-hours or overflow resource because of its non-clawback policy (CareHQ doesn’t deduct a patient’s government-funded co-payment from their regular GP).

Telehealth services such as CareHQ also can help relieve pressure on general practice in terms of the number of appointments available to care for non-COVID patients, and are an excellent option for people who may not be able to get an appointment when they need it.

As a snapshot across the first year, we can share that CareHQ:

* Has seen over 2,500 patients in twelve months
* 60% female
* 60% aged 25-44
* From all over New Zealand, many from small NZ towns or rural areas
* Has received excellent feedback from users (95% rate CareHQ 4 or more out of 5 stars)
* Is seeing one-in-five patients as repeat users