Doctors get sick, too:

General practices in Marlborough have been hit with staff sickness as they struggle to keep up during the busy cold and flu season, and a second wave of Omicron.

Three general practices in Blenheim have no GPS currently available, mainly due to staff being on sick leave.

However, Marlborough Primary Health Organisation general manager Sue Allen said the practices were still doing nurse triage and nurse appointments as required.

‘‘They are running on a skeleton staff,’’ Allen said.

The region currently had six GPS on sick leave, as well as seven general practice nurses, and four or five assistants and administrators away sick.

‘‘Urgent care are also down one GP on an evening shift, so they’re keeping a nurse there who can alert ED when they need staff.’’

Some of the practices also had GPS away on holiday. Having struggled through a busy Covid period, they had booked holidays which they needed to stick to, to stave off burnout, Allen said.

‘‘It’s been really challenging, that’s for sure, having Covid in the community.’’

Affected practices were all looking for locums, but there was a shortage of locums nationally, Allen said.

‘‘The whole country is in the same situation at the moment.’’

With demand from high numbers of patients with colds and flus, as well as a second wave of Omicron, many GPS were on call or working at the weekend for some high-needs patients.

‘‘They’ve done an extremely great job through the outbreak, looking after patients, they’ve been amazing.

‘‘They also all have families to look after, and they get sick just like the rest of us.’’

The average wait for an appointment with a GP was about four weeks at the moment, though the practices kept open some time for acute cases each day, Allen said. She encouraged people to take appointments with whichever GP was available first, rather than wait longer for their normal GP.

‘‘And if you’re not going to make the appointment or three weeks have gone by and you don’t need it any more, don’t forget to cancel so someone else can take your spot.’’

People should also consider alternatives to GP visits for minor complaints and save ED and urgent care for emergencies, she said.

‘‘Pharmacists are really good at giving advice for coughs and colds, and aches and pains, and Healthline can also give advice.

‘‘For a virus, you’re not going to get antibiotics . . . Often staying home and staying warm, and staying away from work if you’re sick, are the best things you can do.

‘‘Some people will need their chest listened to, but for the general population, they can ride out the storm, and ask their pharmacist for a good cough mixture.’’

The PHO was helping practices with recruitment campaigns, but it was more difficult than ever to attract new doctors to the region.

‘‘Getting people into the country is still challenging, and there are delays with the recruitment process.

‘‘It is tough times, right across the country. It’s one of the toughest times we’ve had in primary care. We’ve put a lot on our primary care professionals, and it doesn’t seem to be letting up.’’

At Civic Family Health Care in Blenheim, patients are waiting five weeks for routine appointments but it can be up to 10 weeks, depending on the doctor.

Civic Family Health Care general business manager Andrea Cunniffe said they had been under constant pressure over the past two months, juggling staff absences.

‘‘Our current situation is stretched to the limit.

‘‘When a doctor is away, we are faced with trying to reschedule a week’s worth of patients across an already stretched system with limited appointments.

‘‘When this happens a few weeks in a row, we are really struggling . . . ’’

The Blenheim practice still offered