fcassie@nzdoctor.co.nz

‘Poster child’ practice Waikanae Health has gone from thriving to surviving as GP shortages and patient demands take their toll. Last month, specialist GP Herman van Kradenburg spoke to Fiona Cassie about ‘untenable’ workloads and the underfunding of elderly patients and Community Services Card consults

A small marae-based GP clinic without a nurse for 12 weeks never gave up hope they would find someone.

In 2014, our first ownership map was published, dotting across the country the 108 medical centres then fully or partially sold to corporate and PHO networks.

Did you check out all the new dots on our updated practice ownership map? If not, Fiona Cassie suggests its worth taking a look and reading about the trends

Dougal Thorburn, a muchloved specialist GP and public health physician with a “huge heart” for health equity, the environment and his patients, died recently

A look at some of the news over the past weekend

WellSouth has stepped in and bought a 50 per cent share in Dunedin’s financially stretched urgent-care service, which is owned and operated by the city’s GPs

GPs for the first time have fallen to less than a quarter of the medical workforce, according to the latest Medical Council workforce statistics 

Rural practices are short by 130 GPs and nearly a quarter no longer provide hands-on out-of-hours services, the country’s second stocktake report on rural practices reveals

The opening of the $21 million first stage of Christchurch’s Youth Hub was celebrated today, but the health service that kickstarted the project still struggles for funding, says hub leader Dame Sue Bagshaw