Southland braces for GP shortage
WellSouth will meet with health professionals in the new year to prepare a workforce strategy as Southland braces for a GP shortage.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners survey in 2018 found that 27 per cent of GPs nationally hoped to retire within the next five years. However, that number will jump to 47 per cent in the next 10 years.
There has also been a 5 per cent jump in GP vacancies in rural areas.
WellSouth is the primary health organisation for Otago and Southland, and chief executive Andrew Swanson-Dobbs said creating a workforce for the next generation is an important piece of work.
Swanson-Dobbs will meet Invercargill GPs in the new year to work out a workforce strategy for the region.
Queenstown-based medical recruitment agency MedRecruit has seen a significant drop in people applying for GP posts – particularly in rural areas.
It is investigating the actual size of that drop and why it has occurred.
MedRecruit spokesperson Rachael Walsh said fewer people were enrolling in GP programs. The research will also look at why and what these students are doing instead.
Another problem is a decline in foreign GPs, who are struggling to get visas and don’t particularly want to work in rural areas.
‘‘There’s a lot going on with international pathways,’’ Walsh said.
Invercargill currently has an estimated ratio of one GP to between 1200 and 1300 patients.
Swanson-Dobbs said WellSouth was in the process of conducting its own review so it could be compared to the guidance ratios released by General Practice New Zealand this year.
‘‘We need to train more doctors, we need to have more nurses, but we also need to help change the face of what a general practice can deliver,’’ he said.
To do this, WellSouth is looking at how it can use technology more in the health sector.
The Southern District Health Board and WellSouth are working together to implement their Primary Care and Community Strategy, which includes turning general practices into modern Health Care Homes.
The new-age practices rely on video and telephone consultations, patient portals and pre-screening to get to more patients.
The strategy was introduced last year and four Southland general practices completed the first year of their three-year transition this year.
A further 11 practices began their transition throughout the year, which means more than 120,000 enrolled patients are now being treated in a Health Care Home.
One of general practices that has completed its first year could already see the potential to enrol a further 1000 patients with one less GP, nurse and receptionist, Swanson-Dobbs said. The flipside to this was the resources and time that had been made available by the new approach, he said.
‘‘All of the components of a Health Care Home are about helping the practice get ready for the future,’’ Swanson-Dobbs said.