WE SAY, YOU SAY

WE SAY

Are you able to get help with your health when needed? A report has shown that clinics around New Zealand are understaffed, with GPs overworked and underpaid. And for everyday Kiwis, healthcare and emergency healthcare is simply not accessible.

The General Practice Owners Association of Aotearoa’s report titled On The Brink outlines the urgent need to address pay parity for GP nurses and doctors, beef up workforce numbers and improve funding allocations for practices with the hope that this makes healthcare more accessible in the community.

Are you noticing delays in getting GP appointments or long waits at after-hours care?

Summary: Most Neighbourly members who have voted on the poll shared that they are not able to access healthcare when they really need it.

YOU SAY:

It is awful reading about the troubles people are having with getting GP and specialists appointments but the other thing we should also all be very concerned about is our mental health system. We have, I believe, the highest rate of suicide in the OECD and that has to be directly attributable to the lack of mental healthcare. 550 – 650 people a year die from suspected suicides each year (much more than the road toll) yet where is the outrage from the general public? The majority of people living on our streets have mental health and/or addiction problems but there is nowhere for them to get help.

– Debbie from Auckland Central

This terribly unfortunate situation New Zealand finds itself in is unacceptable to all of us. Yes, all of our poor medical professionals are more than stretched to the limit – they are in their profession because they care about our welfare. Healthcare should always be No 1 priority for any government over and above any other expenditure. If it means doubling their sad incomes or paying specialist a million per annum, so be it. We apparently have approximately 200 qualified physicians coming out of long, expensive training. Is it any wonder we are losing them to overseas contracts where they can have a reasonable standard of living to pay off their educational loans etc?

– Mark from Hokowhitu

I went to see the GP without appointment. Local doctor visitor chairs all empty but doctors fully booked for that day. Three people working in reception. Could not see doctor. So I went to White Cross just two shops away. Patients have no place to sit. Many patients standing in Visitors area . Took four hours to see a doctor. This is the situation of our health system.

– Rajendra from Te Atatu¯ South

Our health system is unable to keep up with our people’s needs. What l wonder is how have successive governments not looked into the future and seen more people need more services. It’s not rocket science . Isn’t that why we have Statistics surveys every three years so the government can plan ahead? I am aware that we live in the world and are part of a whole system and outside influences impact. I think the world in general needs a reset.

– Ruby from Oxford

We have no GP in Greytown and are unable to register at any other medical centre as they are only accepting patients who live in the area. We have two medical practitioners but they’re not doctors. It takes weeks to get an appointment. This is a critical situation.

– Cheryl from Greytown

I think the healthcare system here is brilliant. GPs and hospitals. Even throughout Covid, the treatment and attention I and others in my family received was so good it continually reminded me how fortunate I was to live here.

– Ralph from Epsom

One of the reasons is that many overseas qualified doctors, who also have New Zealand permanent residency or citizenship, are working in pizza shops or on Work and Income benefits due to obstructions and bureaucracy from the New Zealand Medical Council. Only short-term training or a bridging course is needed to have a considerable number of overseas doctors to ease the burden of crises on New Zealand health staff. This is implemented in many developed countries. For example, in Germany, more than 5000 Syrian doctors are being recruited to help the system.

– Mohammad from Epsom

Last time we went to City Doctors Palmerston North, there were three doctors, three nurses and two reception staff working without breaks for over eight hours (we were there eight hours). The after hours/ emergency clinics are understaffed and overworked, too. – Ruth from Highbury

Our location after-hours doctors cut their closing hours down from 10pm to 8pm, which I feel was a big mistake and now they all go to our hospital ED or get sicker at home. Bring back longer opening hours at the after-hours services, this would also very much help parents with sick children, too.

– Anna from Westend

At the moment I only have to wait about one week for an appointment with my GP, who I go out of town to see. My last GP had me waiting one month and my health is too fragile for that. Specialists, however, are another beast. For an immunology appointment, I have been waiting just over a year and finally get it next month. Private neurology is a waiting period of seven months. Breathing specialist . . . I am on the waiting list to get an appointment, so who bloody knows when that will happen.

– Ari from Pukekohe

You can read more comments at neighbourly.co.nz/message/view/ 68640539