A report by Health Action Wānaka found there were significant unmet needs, systemic barriers and a lack of strategic health planning for the area.
The report, "Perception versus reality: the true state of healthcare in the Upper Clutha", included views from 300 healthcare members and stakeholders.
The report found that parents were struggling to find services for their children’s mental health, elderly were being transferred out of the region for general care — and some were going blind as they did not have the means to drive to Dunedin for treatment.
Optometrist Tui Homer recalled a particularly devastating case where a patient could not afford to get the Avastin eye injections they needed to treat the macular degeneration they had.
Ms Homer said there was no funding for the treatment in Wānaka and the only service offered was a private ophthalmologist, who visited once a month from Dunedin.
If patients did not want to pay for the private injections, they had to drive to Dunedin for subsidised treatment.
However, for this patient neither option was viable.
"I said ‘You need the injection’. They said ‘I can’t go to Dunedin because it’s just too much for me to travel, and I can’t afford to have it done privately here, so I’m just not going to go ...’.
"Unfortunately, that means that their eyesight will continue to get worse."
Macular degeneration is a condition which affects the central part of the retina causing blurred vision or blindness if left untreated and is often age related.
"Macular degeneration patients are stereotypically elderly. They can’t drive themselves to the appointments ... they need a driver."
The treatment includes a series of injections, usually once a month for three months, but more are required in the long run, meaning it ends up costing patients a large sum either for regular private injections or travel to Dunedin.
Ms Homer added that other services — such as retinal screenings to test for diabetes and post operative care after cataract surgery — were still only accessible in other places, such as Queenstown and Dunstan.
She said they were having discussions with the Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Southern to allow these services to be subsidised in Wānaka.
Health Action Wānaka spokeswoman Monique Mayze said healthcare inequity in Upper Clutha was indefensible.
"We are at least an hour from an emergency department ... and around 275km from a large specialist hospital.
"We think it’s unacceptable that people — particularly elderly people in our community — are being placed in the position of having to lose their eyesight due to the barriers they face in accessing publicly funded care," Ms Mayze said.
"We are calling on the Minister of Health Simeon Brown and the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to listen to our community and to work with us to address the inequity we face."
