General practice ‘needs to be included’ in pay parity, Te Whatu Ora official says

Te Whatu Ora is currently engaged in drawing down the funding from Treasury

A senior Te Whatu Ora official will brief general practice leaders today on the agency’s belief that the sector “needs to be included” in pay parity.

National commissioning director Abbe Anderson told an online stakeholder hui yesterday of her intended attendance at a GP leaders’ group today.

She didn’t specify, but it appears she was referring to the General Practice Leaders Forum.

Ms Anderson was responding to a question on how pay equity could be ensured for primary care.

She referred first to pay “equity” before switching, mostly, to “disparity”. Pay parity refers to increasing the pay of primary care nurses to match the rates of nurses employed by Te Whatu Ora.

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New health minister Ayesha Verrall is “very supportive”, Ms Anderson said, of general practice nurses and kaiāwhina being included in the “pay disparity” funding.

Te Whatu Ora is currently engaged in drawing down the funding from Treasury, she said.

Late last year, then-health minister Andrew Little announced a pay parity funding package for primary care. General practice was excluded, at least initially, because Mr Little wasn’t convinced by the sector’s evidence that a pay gap exists.

That greatly disappointed the sector which, along with the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, is certain a pay gap exists.

Ms Anderson said Te Whatu Ora executives had discussed the pay disparity funding and that it was not enough “to reach full equity”.