Health – Primary care funding a positive step in the right direction, says College of GPs

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners has welcomed the Health Minister’s funding announcement saying it is a big step in the right direction towards building a well-resourced and sustainable primary care workforce.

Increased investment in primary care has long been at the forefront of our members’ concerns and the College’s advocacy work, particularly improving access to GP, rural hospital and primary care services and growing, and retaining, the workforce.

College President Dr Samantha Murton says, “Any additional funding for primary care will ultimately benefit our patients and improve health outcomes, and as specialist GPs and rural hospital doctors who work in the community, this is our priority.

“As we know there are many areas in primary care that need permanent solutions and further investment, and the Minister has shown that he is willing to invest broadly. I hope that by incentivising primary care to nursing graduates they will see the value in what our workforce does and choose to stay in it for the long-term. This will help alleviate nursing workforce challenges especially in rural communities. Pay parity between primary and secondary nursing is what we still need to aim for.

“Providing timely and accessible care for all New Zealanders and the increased availability of telehealth will be beneficial, but it needs to be offered alongside improved support for face-to-face primary care services to ensure continued patient safety. Telehealth fills a niche, not a void,” says Dr Murton.

College Chief Executive Toby Beaglehole says, “Enabling more overseas doctors to gain general registration in primary care in New Zealand and gain valuable first-hand experience will boost the workforce pipeline. That said, we cannot take our focus off supporting our homegrown workforce. New Zealand needs to attract and retain 300 general practice registrars per year just to maintain GP numbers and investment in the training programme is critical to this.

“Investment in strong, future focused and sustainable primary care will reduce the pressure on secondary care. We look forward to further engagement with Minister Brown on lasting solutions that increase access to specialist general practitioners for New Zealanders and thank him for the steps he has announced.

“The College is pleased to see our ongoing advocacy has been reflected in the Minister’s decisions and we look forward to learning the specifics of this additional funding.”