Whakarongorau Aotearoa

National telehealth service

Whakarongorau Aotearoa (formerly Homecare Medical) is a social enterprise running the Government-funded free to the public, 24x7 national telehealth services across seven digital channels. 

Since then, Whakarongorau Aotearoa have launched other services - the national sexual harm helpline Safe to talk, the Puāwaitanga counselling service, the cervical and bowel national screening co-ordination centres. More recently, it has supported the Government’s COVID-19 response by establishing the COVID-19 Healthline, the COVID-19 Vaccination Healthline, and the COVID-19 Welfare services. 

These services are co-funded by the Ministry of Health, ACC, Te Hiringa Hauora Health Promotion Agency, Ministry of Social Development, and the Department of Corrections. 

Whakarongorau Aotearoa is owned by ProCare and Pegasus Health. 

The services are supported by clinical teams of registered nurses, mental health nurses, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, counsellors, doctors, paramedics, poisons officers, health advisors, family and sexual harm professionals, and emergency triage nurses. They have a professional workforce of more than 2,500. They’re based in contact centres in Auckland, Kaikohe, Ōtara, Rotorua, Heretaunga, Wellington and Christchurch, and from their homes across Aotearoa. 

Whakarongorau Aotearoa responded to 2.55 million contacts in the twelve months ending 30 June 2021.  That is an increase of 92% on the previous year and saw the team connect with more than 950,000 individual people^ (1 in 5 people in Aotearoa).

^The total number of individual people in the year is the sum of unique service users each month, so may include users who have contacted the service in multiple months.

SERVICES PROVIDED

The services include general practice and mental health after hours services, and those that are funded as part of the National Telehealth Services Contract with Government (from 2015) including:

• Healthline
• 1737 – Need to talk?
• Peer Support
• Quitline
• Ambulance secondary triage
• Gambling Helpline
• Alcohol Drug Helpline
• Poisons advice. 

Whakarongorau Aotearoa is separate to the NZ Telehealth Leadership Group.