Rural health: new structures, a new voice

The problem of providing services for people is an ever present, ever compounding one in New Zealand. The decisions relating to who needs what, how those needs can be filled and how much money should be used to do so are complex, made more so’ by the fact that needs change. In the last five years the structure of services filling those needs has changed in many areas including health and local government and this has affected services provided. Some services, like health are essential and for rural people affect the structure and the viability of their communities. These communities have undergone enormous change in the last five years leading to problems for the decision makers as costs rise and resources are stretched. In order to inform the decision-makers to enable them to make best and most appropriate use of those resources, rural people require a mechanism to convey the health issues particular to their sector and have them well recognised. They need a channel for effective advocacy. It is the purpose of this study to explore the channels for effective advocacy of rural health issues with particular reference to the Southland example.