New Caucus to lead General Practice contract negotiations

Growing concern around the future financial sustainability of community-based general practice has led to the establishment of a unified Caucus to strengthen national representation and contract negotiation on behalf of more than 1000 general practice providers (Contracted Providers) across New Zealand.

The Contracted Provider Caucus (the Caucus), has been established by, and will work closely with the General Practice Leaders Forum (GPLF), and unifies the key professional organisations representing general practices and includes:

• The General Practice Owners Association (GenPro)
• The GP Council of the New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)
• The New Zealand Rural General Practice Network (NZRGPN)
• The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP)

“General practice provides an essential service for every community across the country. For too long, general practice providers have operated at the mercy of funding agencies, including the Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and Primary Health Organisations, who all have their own priorities and cost pressures which have taken precedence over the business sustainability, funding and service continuity of general practice. Our new Caucus aims to re-strengthen general practice and once again make it a service that local communities can rely on as well as a career-of-choice for our future medical professionals“, said Dr Vanessa Weenink (pictured), who was appointed chair of the Caucus at its first formal meeting held on 16 August 2021.

The Caucus will have a formal working relationship with GPLF, which is a wider primary care collaborative group that also includes representatives of the funders of general practice (i.e. Primary Health Organisations/PHOs) and general practice employees.

Dr Samantha Murton, President of the New Zealand Royal College of GPs, said “We believe the establishment of this Caucus is critical to general practice sustainability and comes at a time when government funding is failing to meet rising costs, fewer and fewer doctors are choosing general practice as a career option and, rising demand from an ageing population is creating the perfect storm. We have a significant opportunity through the Government’s current health reform programme to signal the importance of protecting these essential local services”.

At its first meeting, the Caucus also appointed lead negotiators to represent general practice providers at the national PSAAP* contract negotiation forum. The negotiators will be Dr Mark Peterson and Dr Angus Chambers (more details below) and who will be supported by a wider team of general practice owners and advisors including Dr Vanessa Weenink and others yet to be appointed. The Caucus will engage lawyers to ensure ongoing legal advice and support is provided to the negotiation team which will operate through formal governance and secretariat services led by Philip Grant at GenPro (the General Practice Owners Association).

“This is a significant national contracting process which covers more than $1billion of contracted services across New Zealand’s general practices – we need to make sure we take that responsibility seriously on behalf of those front-line business owners who have taken on huge personal risk and financial commitments to serve their communities. I am delighted to have been appointed to directly support that role”, said Dr Chambers.

The Caucus looks forward to working with representatives from the Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and PHOs to ensure the financial sustainability of New Zealand’s general practices and continuity of the essential healthcare they provide for their communities.