6 May 2025In this blog clinical director, Dr John Bonning, provides insight into what's motivating Emergency Consult's health and business partnerships...
It has become common place to see local news headlines that reflect a growing sense of urgency and concern regarding our health system’s performance. With coverage focusing on escalating pressures and staffing woes, health news has become grim reading.
But it’s not all bad. While our health system contends with resource constraints and inequities, the immense pressure has made us look to technology and innovation, with solutions like Emergency Consult telehealth providing hope for better days ahead.
Kiwis can now consult with a doctor online within minutes. But while offering patients flexibility and convenience is nice, Emergency Consult’s kaupapa runs much deeper than that.
In addition to on-demand general public consults, Emergency Consult also offers specialist support to their healthcare colleagues in hospitals and clinics. Taking emergency medicine specialists outside of the bricks and mortar hospital settings has allowed their expertise to be deployed at an earlier intersection of the patient journey.
For example, when an elderly resident in an aged care facility becomes ill or has a fall overnight, standard procedure would be to call an ambulance and transport the patient to hospital. They will eventually see an emergency specialist (if necessary) at the end of a lengthy, and possibly traumatic, journey into the hospital system.
But now the emergency specialist can be involved much sooner. They can assess and treat the patient in a timely fashion, at their bedside, facilitating a better patient outcome and frequently eliminating an unnecessary hospital transfer, safely keeping the patient at home and comfortable.
Likewise, a patient being treated by ambulance staff in the community can access specialist treatment and prescribed medication (as necessary) often negating a trip to hospital in the ambulance—freeing up staff and resources for where they’re really needed in the community.
“How do we keep patients, who don’t need to be in hospital, safely managed in the community without the need for transport to our emergency departments?” That’s the question driving Emergency Consult’s health sector and business-to-business partnerships.
Having expert emergency doctors stand behind other health providers has enabled other parts of the sector to maintain – and at times expand - their service offering; providing better, sooner care for patients and releasing stretched community and rural practitioners to allocate their resources to others in need.
For some rural hospitals and clinics, who are experiencing workforce challenges so dire that they’re at risk of having to close their doors overnight, engaging specialist support has enabled them to confidently remain open and keep serving their community.
For pharmacies, schools and corporates, it’s a way to ensure quality healthcare is available to their communities on-the-spot. It’s reassurance that when urgent health matters arise, their people have quality care on-call.
Emergency Consult is convenient. But it’s more than that. It’s an elevated telehealth service, delivered by emergency specialists, designed to contribute to the health eco-system and decompress our emergency departments.
--- Dr John Bonning is telehealth doctor and hospital-based Emergency Medicine Specialist. He is Emergency Consult's clinical director and has served in numerous healthcare leadership roles including ED Director, Chair of the NZ Faculty of ACEM, President of ACEM (of which he was the first ever kiwi elected), and Chair of the New Zealand Council of Medical Colleges.