New Zealand patients’ perceptions of chronic care delivery

Care coordination for patients with chronic conditions is one aim of an integrated health care delivery system. The purpose of this paper is to compare findings from two separate New Zealand studies and discusses the implications of the results.

The paper describes and discusses the use of Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care Measure in two different geographic areas of New Zealand and at different times.

The studies suggest that, despite the time that has elapsed since government investment in care coordination for long-term conditions, there has been little change in the nature of service delivery from the patient perspective.

The paper highlights the shortcomings of simply providing additional funding for care coordination, without built in accountabilities, no planned evaluation and no concerted focus on what the model of care should look like.