WellSouth practice opening delayed

The opening of WellSouth’s general practice in Invercargill has been delayed because of the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The primary health organisation’s board resolved in February that it would open its own general practice to improve access to GPs, improve after-hours GP capacity, and reduce pressure on Southland Hospital’s overwhelmed emergency department.

A report presented to the Southern District Health Board’s Community and Public Health Advisory Committee on April 7 said WellSouth intended to open the general practice by mid-April, with an after-hours practice expected to be open from mid-March. However, WellSouth chief executive officer Andrew Swanson-Dobbs said the organisation was still in the process of recruiting doctors and selecting board members for the businesses, which will be run as a subsidiary of WellSouth.

As was the case in the rest of New Zealand, and the Southern region in particular, Swanson-Dobbs said it was difficult to attract staff – even more so with the borders shut.

He had already had conversations with people who were keen to work at the practice.

The primary health organisation-operated practice would be the first of its kind in Southland and Otago, but has been proven to work elsewhere in the country, Swanson-Dobbs said.

WellSouth had been working hard to build capacity in Invercargill, he said, naming initiatives such as the Healthcare Homes model being rolled out throughout the district.

However, with the 13 general practices in the city rarely having the capacity to take new enrolments, and the hospital reporting that patients were presenting at the ED with concerns that could be treated in primary care, the WellSouth board told its executives to do what was needed to take the pressure off doctors.

The new service will be run in collaboration with GPs and the hospital.

Swanson-Dobbs said it needed to be a stand-alone operation to be effective.

During its first year, the practice will offer general GP services to unenrolled patients, along with nurse-led clinics, mental health services, and after-hours and urgent care. By 2025, WellSouth hopes to have a purpose-built facility set up in Invercargill that will be a one-stopshop for primary care.

The facility will offer a training environment to attract younger doctors and health practitioners and will target high-needs groups, the report to the district health board says.

New health reforms announced by the Health Minister on Wednesday may see an end to primary health organisations, but Swanson-Dobbs said this simply meant WellSouth needed to work ‘‘faster and harder’’ to get the practice up and running.

The minister had indicated that he was looking for new models of primary care and the new practice would be a good example, he said.