Heidi and Tāmaki Health: Empowering culturally diverse care

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Background

Founded in 1977, Tāmaki Health started as a single South Auckland GP clinic dedicated to providing accessible, affordable, and high-quality medical care. Today, Tāmaki Health is New Zealand’s largest independent primary healthcare group, operating over 50 clinics under two sub-brands: Local Doctors and White Cross. Serving over 4,500 patients daily, Tāmaki Health provides care in culturally diverse communities, across a range of geographies, often serving communities with high health needs such as Māori , Pasifika and lower decile population groups. 

Challenges

Dr Slushna Weeramuni, an experienced GP at Tāmaki Health’s Lynn Mall Medical Centre and Deputy Clinical Director for Tāmaki Health, has witnessed firsthand the mounting pressures facing clinicians over her 30-year career.

Increasing complexity and documentation requirements

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"It's getting more challenging.. In the '90s, we used to have these really simple consults, but now it's predominantly long-term conditions, multiple chronic illnesses - badly controlled diabetes, obesity, hypertension."

Dr Weeramuni highlighted how chronic conditions have increased, along with paperwork demands, accreditation standards, and medication documentation requirements, dramatically increasing clinicians’ workloads.

Culturally diverse patient community

“We’re out in West Auckland. It's a low-decile area. We have a large proportion of Māori, Polynesian, and quite a large proportion of Asian patients. Sometimes there can be language barriers.”

The diverse patient community required clinicians to navigate multiple languages, complicating documentation and patient communication further.

Time pressure and cognitive load

"Most of the time, I typed up notes straight after the patient left. But if running behind, I’d jot it down and do it at the end of the session or day. That's not always accurate."

Clinicians regularly faced cognitive strain from having to retain detailed patient information until they could document it later. 

Patient care impact

"I never typed as I went because I didn't feel comfortable - you're not giving your full attention to the patient."

Documentation demands affected the quality of patient interactions, risking essential aspects of care.

Solution

When Tāmaki Health adopted Heidi in late 2024, clinicians quickly experienced a positive shift. The rollout was spearheaded by a dedicated programme team led by Sarah Stueber, Digital Transformation and Organizational Development Lead. 

Tamaki systematically rolled out Heidi across their clinics, using internal videos, posters, and clinician-led Q&A sessions to support adoption, as well as equipped their clinics with portable audio equipment like the Jabra Speak2 and Boya Lapel mics to enable high-quality care in action.

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Top 3 favourite features:

• Automatic clinical summaries: Efficiently create detailed patient notes directly from consultations.
• Multi-session summaries: Compiles patient information from multiple consults effortlessly.
• Customisable templates: Tailored to match clinician workflows and patient care specifics.

Impact

Heidi significantly alleviated documentation burdens, directly addressing Tāmaki’s key challenges.

Key outcomes:

• Reduced charting time by 70%
• 100+ hours saved on documentation within the first two weeks
• Achieved 91% clinician activation rate within the first month
• Improved clinician satisfaction and reduced cognitive load

Enhanced communication with diverse patient communities

"I can speak Singhalese to a basic extent, I'm Sri Lankan. We have a nurse who's Brazilian, one who's Romanian, and we've got about three receptionists who speak Hindu or Urdu, as well as three other doctors who are multilingual." – Dr Slushna Weeramuni

Tāmaki’s clinician community is just as diverse as their patients - one of the reasons Tāmaki gets great outcomes for the patients they serve. Luckily, Heidi helps clinicians document their appointments effectively across multiple languages, bridging potential barriers and enhancing patient care.

Reduced documentation time and cognitive load

Clinicians now save significant time on documentation, improving overall efficiency and accuracy.

"It's captured much more than my brain would because as I'm getting older, it's obviously getting harder to remember!" – Dr Slushna Weeramuni

Improved clinician satisfaction

“Our doctors are finding Heidi extremely helpful and loving it. It’s helping them be more efficient and enhancing their medical practice.” -  Janet Wong, Practice Lead, Ratanui

High activation rates illustrate clinician appreciation and adoption of the technology.

Unexpected benefit

"Sometimes patients have maybe three or four consultations, right? Now, I copy those consults into Heidi and then I'd say ‘write a letter to the specialist’ and Heidi picks it up really well - way faster than I could do it." – Dr Slushna Weeramuni

What’s next

With Heidi seamlessly integrated into their workflow, Tāmaki Health is now positioned to enhance their mission of providing accessible, equitable healthcare at scale. Freed from extensive documentation demands, clinicians can devote more time and attention directly to patient care.

“It’s all about ‘better for all’ - accessible healthcare, a team environment, down-to-earth, with strong team spirit.” - Sarah Stueber, Programme Lead

Tāmaki Health continues exploring and executing on innovative ways to deliver quality healthcare efficiently. Heidi andTāmaki Health are working in partnership to redefine care delivery and transform healthcare.

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