A scoping study has shown that telehealth is a viable long-term option for supporting Māori whanau access to healthcare. In the study, semi-structured interviews were completed with 5 Māori health professionals, 6 Māori telehealth patients, and 6 Māori in-clinic patients, about healthcare consultation experiences during the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand. Key benefits were identified by all participants and included time and economic saving, enabling of tino rangatiratanga and improved safety. A number of challenges were highlighted, including access to the necessary resources and unmet health needs due to prioritisation of COVID-focused care. Suggested improvements to telehealth provision included systems that were more user-friendly and included language options, real-time sharing of information between and across health system organisations, education for healthcare service staff around communication and delivery of information digitally, as well as building rapport online, and patient access to technology, devices and knowledge around their use.
