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Journal of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners
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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)
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A qualitative study on the primary care research priorities of people in Southern Aotearoa New Zealand

Anna Williams https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4853-9631 1 , Sharon Leitch https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9939-8773 1 * , Liza Edmonds https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7349-449X 2 , Jing-Ru Li 1 , Garry Nixon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8192-1412 3 , Tim Stokes https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1127-1952 4
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

1 Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

2 Te Whatu Ora Wairarapa, Te Whatu Ora Southern and Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

3 Dunstan Hospital, Rural Health Section, Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

4 University of Otago Medical School, Department of General Practice and Rural Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

* Correspondence to: Sharon.leitch@otago.ac.nz

Handling Editor: Felicity Goodyear-Smith

Journal of Primary Health Care https://doi.org/10.1071/HC25036
Submitted: 11 March 2025  Accepted: 21 May 2025  Published: 18 June 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Introduction

The Southern Primary Care Research network has been established to support research that uses routinely collected clinical and administrative primary care data to improve health and health equity in the region. Patients are key stakeholders in this work. Understanding their priorities will improve research relevance.

Aim

This study aimed to identify the primary healthcare research priorities of primary care patients in Otago and Southland.

Methods

Focus groups were conducted. Participants discussed issues of health equity, research needs, and use of health data for research. An inductive reflexive thematic approach was used to analyse the dataset from which codes and themes were developed.

Results

Seven focus groups were held with 50 participants from populations with significant health needs across Otago and Southland. Three research themes were developed: communication, access to care, and quality of care. Participants were most concerned with their challenges relating to health literacy; namely knowing which primary healthcare services are available, and communication during the consultation. Participants experienced barriers to accessing health care because of practical, financial, sociocultural, and workforce factors. Enablers to access were community organisations, advocates, and self-advocacy. The theme of quality of care focused on the experience of the patients once they were in the healthcare system. Issues included the care approach, clinician skills and knowledge, and the availability of services.

Discussion

Four research areas with potential to improve health equity were identified: communication of health services, patient–doctor communication, reduction of barriers to access, and improved quality of care. These findings will be used to focus future primary healthcare research in the region.

Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand, community-based participatory research, health inquities, primary care research network, primary health care, research prioritisation, stakeholder consultation.

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