Health NZ’s Online GP Care service delivered almost 96,000 virtual consultations in the year to June, with the vast majority of patients turning to the service because they could not get a timely face-to-face appointment.
Figures released under the Official Information Act and provided to Pulse+IT show 95,792 funded video consultations were delivered through the national service between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026.
Of those, 67,950 – around 71 per cent – were attributed to patients being unable to obtain a timely in-person appointment, while 12,116 were booked for convenience.
A further 3,390 consultations involved people living in rural or remote areas, 3,378 were attributed to work or family constraints and 2,365 involved patients who were not registered with a primary care provider.
The figures suggest the virtual service is being used largely as an alternative access point for patients who can’t get timely care through general practices.
Almost 69 per cent of consultations involved people who were already enrolled with a primary healthcare provider, with 65,987 consultations involving enrolled patients compared with 29,800 involving people who were not enrolled.
Health NZ describes Online GP Care as a 24/7 service designed to improve access for people who are not enrolled, cannot get a timely appointment or require support after hours.
It provides video consultations with registered New Zealand GPs, nurse practitioners and emergency medicine doctors and forms part of the National Urgent and After-Hours Framework.
Virtual providers split demand
Eight virtual care providers delivered consultations through the service during the year, with Practice Plus GP accounting for the largest share at 37,562 consultations.
Bettr Virtual Clinic delivered 16,349, followed by CareHQ with 11,233, Tend Health Online with 10,892 and The Doctors Online with 8,424.
Emergency Consult recorded 5,448 consultations, MedOnline 3,665 and Pocket Lab 2,219.
An individual event is defined by Health NZ as an online video consultation incorporating assessment, diagnosis and treatment, which can include sending a prescription to a pharmacy.
The figures exclude failed consultations where one or both parties were unable to connect for technical reasons, as well as patients who did not attend, because those encounters are not funded by Health NZ.
Despite being available around the clock, use of the service was concentrated during the day. The busiest hour was 11am, when 9,023 consultations began, followed by 10am with 8,287.
Numbers remained high through the afternoon before declining in the evening – with fewer consultations taking place overnight.
Most consultations result in treatment
GPs accounted for 89,406 of the 95,792 consultations, with another 6,386 recorded under other or unknown clinician types.
Health NZ also recorded 66,033 appointments as lasting between five and 15 minutes, although the duration of the remaining 29,759 was classified as other, unclear or unknown.
Treatment was provided in 83,716 consultations, equivalent to about 87 per cent of all funded encounters.
Another 5,162 resulted in referral to a non-GP health professional or diagnostic service, while 1,783 resulted in referral to a GP and 865 in an urgent referral.
Only 841 consultations were recorded as being out of scope for telehealth, meaning the clinician determined a virtual consultation was not clinically suitable to complete the patient’s assessment, diagnosis or treatment.
Health NZ cautioned that the figures were provisional and used for operational purposes and had not undergone its full quality assurance process.
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