Budget 22 funding for primary care a good start but other issues remain, says Pinnacle CEO

Pinnacle Midlands Health Network looks set to receive around $1.25m from $44 million funding boost announced Wednesday (April 26) to strengthen primary, community and rural care. 

Minister of health Dr Ayesha Verrall and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare announced the funding, which will be rolled out across the motu over two years and targeted to deliver services focused on Māori and Pacific populations.  

Pinnacle CEO Justin Butcher welcomed the funding which will go toward comprehensive care teams, including kaiāwhina, physiotherapists, pharmacists, care coordinators, and in some rural areas, paramedics, to be established in all early localities, which for the Pinnacle network includes Hauraki. Tūwharetoa and Tairāwhiti.   

“We support the funding being directed towards kaupapa Māori and Pacific-owned practices and practices that have the highest concentration of Māori and Pacific patients,” said Justin. 

“It looks at this stage that the additional funding will cover a handful of eligible practices across our network as part of the equity adjustment, and about 20,000 out of 93,000 Māori covered across the network. We look forward to seeing more detail and the modelling.” 

The equity allocation is fixed and will be reviewed in 2024. 

Justin said it’s promising to see targeted investment and capacity into primary care including workforce development and additional frontline clinical team members.  

“Pinnacle will continue to advocate for increased funding. The sector still faces significant bigger picture issues such as the clinical workforce crisis and systemic underfunding that must be addressed.”