9500 share two GPs
It’s the rural Taranaki district renowned for its glockenspiel and passionate commitment to Shakespeare, but Stratford is also at the forefront of a national health crisis now that it has only two permanent GPs for its 9500 people.
In less than two months, the district has lost three of its five doctors, and they are yet to be permanently replaced.
‘‘I’ve been fielding regular calls from people in the community who are finding difficulty getting a GP appointment,’’ district mayor Neil Volzke said. ‘‘Naturally I’m worried, and I think many people are as well. It’s not something that can go on forever.’’
Stratford’s situation is likely to become far more common in the coming years.
A Royal New Zealand College of GPs future workforce report, which was released last month, said 50 per cent of family doctors wanted to retire by 2032.
Speaking to Stuff about a report at the time, Dr Bryan Betty, the medical director at the college, said that ‘‘was a real concern’’.
Nationally, GP clinics have about one fulltime doctor per 1500 patients, but it ‘‘should be about 1 to 1000’’.
If everyone in Stratford were registered to a local doctor, it would be one GP to 4750 people.
The district has two medical centres – the Avon Medical Centre, which had four doctors and one nurse prescriber, and the Regan Street Health Centre, which has one doctor.
But between mid-February and the end of last month three doctors left Avon Medical, which is looked after by Pinnacle, the organisation that funds the majority of GPs in Taranaki.
Volzke said it had only been in recent years that Stratford’s healthcare has been ‘‘ more problematic’’, seeing some residents forced to travel an hour-long round trip to either Ha¯wera or New Plymouth to visit a GP, he said.
However, finding a GP in another district is also difficult, with only about five practices in Taranaki still accepting new patients. Temporary measures were in place at the centre but Volzke said that hadn’t helped some in his district.
‘‘All I’ve been able to do is assure them that Avon
Medical Centre is trying very hard to recruit new GPs.’’
Last year, Volzke put pressure on the Taranaki District Health Board as Stratford was the only district that didn’t have a dedicated vaccination centre – meaning the older generation, who were overdue for their first jab, had to travel elsewhere.
While Stratford didn’t get its own hub, multiple mass vaccination events had come to the town.
This week, Volzke said he had been in regular conversations with the Taranaki DHB about thesituation but knew the nationwide GP shortage was playing a part.
‘‘We’re just a classic example of that.’’ Pinnacle active chief executive Justin Butcher acknowledged that, too.
‘‘To date we have been unable to find any replacements,’’ Butcher said. ‘‘The nationwide GP shortage is making it harder than usual to fill these vacancies.’’
While Pinnacle looks for new doctors, ‘‘visiting locum GPs are providing additional cover and virtual consults with out-of-town doctors are also available’’, he said.