A survey of over 2000 New Zealand GPs has found that most believe patient portals have led to an improvement in the ability of their practice to provide services to patients, with those working in practices that provide a portal to all patients rather than a restricted group the most positive.

The survey also found that Kiwi GPs predominantly use technologies such as text messaging, email, patient portals and Skype/videoconferencing for exchanging information with other health professionals and their patients rather than for more advanced purposes such as patient assessment and diagnosis, and while the volume of electronic referrals to specialists and hospitals was very high – over 75 per cent – few had access to NZ's new ePrescribing service at the time of the survey.