Ignored Government Review Backs Family Doctors

A Government review has found the funding of essential family doctor services is totally inadequate, something the General Practice Owners Association of New Zealand (GenPro) agrees with.

GenPro Chair Dr Tim Malloy (pictured) says the findings of the review are fully consistent with daily feedback from GenPro members and vindicates the concerns that GenPro has been raising with the Minister of Health for months as well as this weeks publication of its own ‘On The Brink’ report and Open Letter to the Minister.

“Each day we hear of clinics that are having to reduce their hours or cut services as they are unable to find staff to deliver those essential services in their community. It means patients are having to wait longer to see their family doctor or seek help in overcrowded after hours’ clinics or the hospital emergency departments. It is incredibly disheartening that family doctor services are in this position.”

Dr Malloy says a government review into the funding of General Practice, ‘A Future Capitation Funding Approach – Addressing health need and sustainability in general practice funding’, identifies that family doctor services are not funded adequately to deliver care for patients and that "This is a serious deficiency in a core part of New Zealand's health system".

“This review was commissioned by the Health Transition Unit, part of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and yet, despite being finalised in July 2022, no action has been taken to date to address the significant risk to patients or the impact upon the wider health system.

Dr Malloy says GenPro’s ‘On The Brink’ report outlines a 9-point plan that addresses all of the issues and asks “When is someone going to start taking action to address the lack of funding, workforce shortages and increasing workloads in General Practice which are resulting in severe risk to patients?”.

GenPro is asking for fair pay for family doctor teams, including pay parity for nurses, better support to increase the workforce and fair contractual terms for family doctor businesses. “We have tried to engage with the Minister on numerous occasions and the fact that we have had to go to the public shows how desperate we have become to actually see some action.

“Family doctor services are a core part of our country’s health system and the government can’t keep taking them for granted.”

Visit www.saveyourfamilydoctorservice.nz to learn more and sign GenPro’s petition.