Sexual and reproductive health services in New Zealand primary care settings: A mixed-methods survey.

BACKGROUND: New Zealand's recently released Women's Health Strategy aims to provide accessible, equitable care which prioritises prevention, early intervention and areas of unmet need. An example of such care is the management of common sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues by appropriately trained primary care practitioners in the community. AIMS: The aim was to identify primary care SRH program initiatives currently operating in New Zealand, how they are accessed and funded, whether they have been co-designed using matauranga (knowledge) Maori principles and whether any have undergone formal evaluation. METHODS: A mixed-methods electronic anonymous survey of primary care practitioners and secondary care obstetrics and gynaecology clinical directors was distributed in April 2023. Qualitative analysis of free text answers was undertaken. RESULTS: Few funded SRH services are available in community settings in New Zealand. Access and eligibility criteria to those which exist varies by region. A lack of co-design and governance was reported, along with difficulties in access to skills training and specialist advice. CONCLUSIONS: The current SRH landscape in New Zealand appears fragmented and lacks an overarching strategic focus. To achieve the aims of the Women's Health Strategy, a suite of core community-based SRH programs should be developed and formally evaluated, focusing on equitable access, integration and specific outcomes. These should be co-designed using mataurangi Maori principles.

Increasing access to contraception in New Zealand: assessing the impact of a new funding initiative.

AIM: This paper offers a grassroots view of the impact of a recent government initiative designed to increase access to contraception and improve health and social outcomes for women in New Zealand. METHOD: District health board and primary health organisation project leads were contacted to request information on how each region had chosen to configure contraception services under the new contract in August 2019, a month after the rollout of the initiative, and again in August 2020. In addition, feedback from individual general practitioners was sought via social media groups. RESULTS: There is significant variation in regional funding and provision of contraception services. Further, complex eligibility criteria can create unnecessary barriers to access for women. CONCLUSION: Variation in funding and access to contraception continues to be a feature of service provision in New Zealand and may have been exacerbated by the recent Ministry of Health funding initiative. This perpetuates inequity, particularly for vulnerable women. Urgent consideration should be given to a whole-of-system approach with contraception being free at the point of access for all women in New Zealand.

Barriers to the prescription of LARCs in general practice in New Zealand-a qualitative research study.

AIM: New Zealand has a high rate of unplanned pregnancy but a low rate of uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs), the most effective forms of contraception. This study aims to determine some of the barriers faced by general practitioners in New Zealand who wish to offer LARCs to their patients. METHODS: General practitioners (n=17) were interviewed for this qualitative research study. The interviewees were asked about their experiences prescribing LARCs for their patients, any barriers they had experienced and how they felt any barriers described could best be overcome. Recorded interviews were examined using an inductive process of thematic analysis to generate codes to categorise the key patterns emerging from the data, in accordance with Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework. RESULTS: There were three main themes identified as barriers to the provision of LARCs in general practice in New Zealand: a lack of funding for contraception provision in primary care, resulting in a high cost for LARC insertion for patients; poor access to procedural training; and the current Special Authority criteria for the LNG-IUS (Mirena©) IUS, which restricts its availability as a contraceptive option. CONCLUSIONS: In order to increase the uptake of LARCs in New Zealand, robust primary care training and funding for contraception will be required. In addition, unrestricted funding for the LNG-IUS (Mirena) would increase the choice of effective LARCs available for all women.