Lay summary
This research aims to give rural communities, especially Māori, in New Zealand a voice in the design and implementation of telehealth services providing health and disability services to their community. Telehealth services that are well designed to match the needs of the community improves access to healthcare and advances Māori health. The basis of the activation activity is to strengthen the existing relationship between the activation lead and Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty, Te Whati Ora Te Pae Hauora o Ruahine o Tararua and Te Whatu Ora Southern to collaborate with and run a series of co-design workshops with their rural communities on the design and implementation of rural telehealth. The findings will provide rural Māori communities and health providers the opportunity to co-design strategies and projects to successfully adopt telehealth as a model of care that meets the specific needs of Māori.