Taking screening services to the people: make it accessible and they will come

Disrupted access to health services during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lower rates of health screening uptake in general practices. 

The number of patients participating in cervical and breast screening services, as well as receiving smoking cessation advice in general practices across Te Manawa Taki (Midlands Region) has been declining. As a result, so too have health targets. 

“Because of COVID, many general practices were completely overwhelmed and redeployed to manage this space,” says Selena Batt, Pinnacle smoking cessation and screening lead, practice and network services.  “Some didn’t have space to actively do screening recalls or refer patients to outreach services.” 

“As a team, we had to do something. If people can’t come in to get other treatments because of COVID, the reality is, it will result in death.” 

The Pinnacle smoking cessation and screening team pulled in the immunisations outreach team and diabetes kaiawhina Lee Page-Deane to offer a free women and children’s pop-up health clinic in Hamilton’s Western Community Centre in the month of May. 

Open every Monday between 9am and 12noon, the clinic offered free cervical screening, HPV vaccination, childhood immunisations for children five years old and under, stop smoking support, breast screening enrolments/appointments and diabetes support to anyone who walked in – no appointment necessary. 

“We wanted to create an alternative safe space in the community where whānau could still get the free health and screening services they need,” says Selena. 

“It was a holistic approach that allowed a warm handover to different services. Often someone who is overdue for a breast screen will also be overdue for cervical screening. At the pop-up clinic, a woman could walk out of the room after a screening and immediately talk to the next service then and there.”

Three general practices in the local area, West End Medical Centre, Northcare Grandview and the Dinsdale Medical Centre, shared data to support the pop-up clinic team contacting their patients who were overdue for screening or immunisations. 

Along with the team’s existing outreach list, this allowed two team members to make 585 phone calls to local patients, speaking to 366 people about the clinic and encouraging them to come in, as well as checking about any other whānau in the household who might need services. 

Promotion by the Western Community Centre, a local flyer drop, and the opportunity for attendees to go in the draw for a $50 Pak n Save voucher also helped spread the word. For those who made bookings, text message reminders were sent the day before and follow up calls went out to those who didn’t make it in.

“We made an impact,” says Selena. “People were highly engaged with the clinic, and we got lots of positive feedback.” 

“For one lady who attended, it had been more than 20 years since her last screening. She said she was glad she’d taken her health as important and got herself sorted – she really appreciated the service.” 

Over five weeks of Mondays in May pop-up clinics, 29 women were screened in the pop-up clinic, six home screenings took place for women who could not get into the clinic, and many more walked through the door to talk about their health – often returning in the following weeks to find out more. 

Diabetes kaimahi, Lee Page-Deane says there were lots of converstaions about health, answering questions and and the chance to make people aware of what their choices were. 

“There were big changes for some people, with huge results for diabetes maintenance. We’ve made follow ups and some are still in contact now,” says Lee. 

“It’s a all from being in the community and being accessible – everyone was welcome, there was a beautiful wairua to the space and people smiled as soon as they talked to us. With accessibility, people will come to you.”  

Plans are now being made to extend the pop-up clinic model, returning to the Western Community Centre and taking it to other locations like Te Awamutu and Tokoroa. Including other services such as bowel screenings, influenza vaccinations and COVID-19 boosters is also being explored. 

Selena says the success of the clinic demonstrates the power of the collective, and being out in the community. “What we’ve learnt from COVID is that as a collective we’re so powerful, and we can make a real difference being out in the community. 

“By asking ‘what can we do?’ we’ve been able to create a space where whānau can get the services they need.”