Remote and rural New Zealand communities are set to gain better emergency healthcare access thanks to a new Pharmac funding approval.
Pharmac said it will fund additional treatments for community emergency care starting in March 2026, giving rural health providers like GPs and midwives the same access to emergency, trauma, and pain medications as hospitals and ambulance services.
“Getting fast emergency care can be especially challenging for people living in rural areas of New Zealand, where ambulances can take longer to arrive and hospitals may be further away,” Pharmac Director Strategy, Policy, and Performance Michael Johnson said.
According to Pharmac, certain community trauma and emergency services previously lacked access to the same funded medications available to Health NZ hospitals and ambulance services, delaying patients’ receipt of essential drugs when needed.
“This simple change will ensure people living in rural areas will have access to the same quality of emergency medical treatment as those living in major urban centres.”
These medications will be accessible via Practitioner Supply Orders (PSO), allowing authorised health professionals to stock them ahead of time for emergency use.
The following medications will be funded for community emergency care starting next month:
- PRIME services: droperidol, glucose (5% 100ml bag and 10% 500ml bag) ketamine, methoxyflurane, intravenous tranexamic acid, and enoxaparin 100mg.
- Home births: intravenous tranexamic acid for postpartum haemorrhage.
Pharmac is also funding ketamine to manage uncontrollable pain in community-based palliative care patients.
Ketamine is currently funded for palliative care in hospitals but not communities. Now, it will be available by prescription or pre-stocked in rest homes and hospices, “so that people can get it when they need it,” Johnson added.