Specialist GP Nikki Vadgama provides some tips to make your next paediatric eczema consult easier. She includes a review of new guidelines, resources, websites and medications for paediatric eczema management
Not easy to leave busy practice: Porirua service turns away patients as GPs retire or leave town
Not easy to leave busy practice: Porirua service turns away patients as GPs retire or leave town
![Liliani Weerakkody](/sites/default/files/styles/cropped_image_16_7_/public/2023-08/Liliani%20Weerakkody.jpg?itok=Y6DLwUKi)
Kia ora, please enjoy our Summer Hiatus selection of stories and comment from throughout 2023, curated by our editorial team. This article was first published on 16 August. We will be back from our summer break on 15 January. Happy reading
Chosen by Alan: How many GPs do you reckon there are who want to retire, but are unable to walk away from their patients knowing there is no-one to take their place? Everyone knew this was coming and yet here we are, anyway
“I was seeing my last patient at 4.30pm, but still not getting home until 6.30, and even then, I would still have to clear my inbox”
Porirua Union and Community Health Services has closed its books for the first time in its history and specialist GP Lilani Weerakkody is feeling plenty of guilt over her part in the problem.
But with Dr Weerakkody’s 71st birthday approaching next month, she says she has been trying for more than a year to retire.
“I feel so sorry for the doctors working there now,” she says.
“There is so much pressure on them because there is a real shortage of doctors across the health system and so much work.
“I have seen GPs posting on Facebook about feeling burned out; they are stressed and asking for advice on what to do. I feel sad about the situation now.”
Dr Weerakkody is one of four GPs to have left Porirua Union, with two retirements and two GPs moving to Auckland.
The practice normally has eight part-time GPs, equating to four FTEs.
She sees herself as part of an ageing workforce that is trying to hang on for as long as possible to support their colleagues and patients.
Her approach had been to gradually reduce her hours, from five days a week to one day a week, over five years. A GP was found to take her place last year, but his arrival was constantly postponed because the practice where he worked was struggling to replace him.
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Dr Weerakkody agreed to delay her leaving, but on the condition someone else looked after her inbox. Until then, “I was seeing my last patient at 4.30pm, but still not getting home until 6.30, and even then, I would still have to clear my inbox,” Dr Weerakkody says.
In Te Rangahau Ohu Mahi The Workforce Survey 2022, from the RNZCGP, 14 per cent of the 3356 GP respondents were aged 65 or over; 101 respondents were aged 75 or more.
The survey also found more than 30 per cent of respondents overall intended to retire over the next five years.
Porirua Union specialist GP and General Practice NZ chair Bryan Betty says: “It’s hard for everyone, recruitment is really difficult, I’ve seen a noticeable change in terms of our ability to attract doctors, it’s much more competitive.
“We’ve been advertising, but we haven’t had many responses,” Dr Betty says.
As a VLCA practice, Porirua Union struggles to compete on remuneration and conditions. The demands from a high caseload of complex patients are unavoidable, so they offer as much flexibility in working hours as possible.
“We’ve never had to close our books before, but we can’t keep taking patients when we don’t have the staff, which is not a position we want to be in, or continue, but it’s the reality,” he says.
“At the same time, the growth here, it’s huge, we have new developments and a lot of people moving in – we have a waiting list of 150 – so, it’s hard for our patients, it’s hard for the hospital, it’s hard for whānau, and it’s hard for our staff who are motivated to provide the best care they can.”