Funding strengthens rural emergency response

Pharmac will fund all medicines used in community emergency care to support Primary Response in Medical Emergency (PRIME) services from 1 July 2026. PRIME services are delivered by specially trained GPs and nurses who act as first responders in rural areas where ambulance services are not always immediately available.

These rural health practitioners now have access to the same emergency, trauma and pain medicines as their hospital and ambulance colleagues, reducing long-standing gaps between urban and rural emergency care.

Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network Clinical Director Rural Health, Dr Rebekah Doran, says the announcement reflects both clinical necessity and sustained rural advocacy. 

“In rural practice, time and distance matter,” she says. “When transfer to hospital can take an hour or more, what you have available in the clinic, the home, or at the roadside can directly influence an outcome.”

Previously, some community-based emergency services didn’t have access to the same funded medicines as hospital and ambulance teams, affecting people’s ability to get the medicines they needed, when they needed them.

“This change will ensure people living in rural areas will have access to the same quality of emergency medical treatment as those living in major urban centres,” says Pharmac’s Director Strategy, Policy, and Performance, Michael Johnson.

“It will mean that rural health professionals have funded access to key medicines, that will reduce imbalances in health care that existed between city and country areas.”

The newly funded medicines from March this year include droperidol, glucose (5% 100 ml bag and 10% 500 ml bag), ketamine, methoxyflurane, intravenous tranexamic acid, enoxaparin 100 mg, and from 1 July 2026 tenecteplase 50mg.

“These medicines have been made available through Practitioner Supply Orders (PSO), meaning that authorised health professionals can stock them in advance so they are available for emergency situations,” says Johnson.

Dr Doran says funded access to methoxyflurane, for acute pain is a meaningful addition for PRIME services.

“Some rural PRIME sites have previously purchased methoxyflurane themselves because they could see the immediate benefit for patients in acute pain. Public funding recognises its clinical value and removes that cost pressure from local services.”

Pharmac is also funding ketamine for uncontrollable pain in people receiving palliative care in their communities.

“Ketamine was previously funded for palliative care in hospitals, but not in the community,” says Johnson. “Now it’s available by prescription or able to be pre-stocked in rest homes and hospices so that people can get it when they need it.

“These changes are a practical step toward strengthening rural health services and ensuring people can access timely, high-quality emergency care, no matter where they live.”

From 1 July, Pharmac will also fund medicines used by ambulance services, following a Government decision to transfer this responsibility from Health NZ and ACC. This supports a more consistent and coordinated approach to emergency care across New Zealand.

Decision to fund treatments in the community for trauma and medical emergencies, and ketamine for palliative care

Decision to update the Pharmaceutical Schedule for ambulance medicines, and tenecteplase for pre-hospital care