‘Scary’: patients turned away

New patients are being turned away from half of southern doctor’s clinics as GPs continue to be inundated by people seeking to enrol.

General practice managers have described a shortage of doctors and an increase in work, with one calling the situation "very scary".

A comparison of Ministry of Health data from June last year and Healthpoint figures accessed on Friday suggests the situation is getting worse, continuing a post-2019 increase in practices closing their books.

In June the ministry said 38% of practices in the Southern DHB had closed books, while Healthpoint showed 50% of practices in the area were categorised as enrolling new patients.

WellSouth Primary Health Network chief operating officer Damon Campbell said there was an ever-increasing pressure on services and the amount of money the Government paid per enrolled person had not changed in over a decade.

General practice teams did all they could to enrol patients, and all areas of Otago and Southland had practices accepting new people.

Dunedin’s Aurora Health Centre manager Sharon Smith said the centre had been "slammed" with people wanting to enrol, especially towards the end of last year.

"We had to close the books because we had so many new patients that it just gets to a stage where you have to stop."

Enrolment was currently limited and reflected a national problem.

A shortage of GPs was the biggest factor, as the older generation was retiring, and not enough younger ones were coming through.

Healthpoint figures showed less than one third of Dunedin practices were categorised as enrolling new patients yesterday, at 8 out of 27.

In Invercargill, the figure was also less than one third, at 5 out of 16 practices.

In the wider Dunedin-South Otago category, 20 out of 43 practices were enrolling new patients, while in the Southland category, it was 13 out of 33.

However, in Central Lakes — which includes Central Otago, Wanaka and Queenstown — a majority of 12 out of the area’s 16 practices were enrolling new patients; and in Waitaki, the figure was 7 out of 11.

Dunedin’s Mornington Health Centre general manager Marian Rillstone said more GPs were needed, and Government funding needed to keep up with inflation, as not doing so created an increasing financial burden on primary care.

Books at the centre were periodically closed when capacity was reached.

"Limited enrolment [and] closed books has become an increasing issue since 2019."

This was because of a significant increase in workload caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as an increase in more complex cases that would historically have been dealt with by specialists.

Invercargill’s Waihopai Health Services administrator manager Lyn Clark said although there had long been a shortage of doctors, the situation had become worse since 2019 as services struggled to keep up with a population influx.

The hospital was overrun, and many patients were being referred to general practice, who were unable to cope.

Cited in a preliminary study undertaken by Victoria University of Wellington researchers, ministry data showed 32 general practices in the Southern DHB had closed books, the second-highest amount by region in the country behind Canterbury at 45.

Nationally, 33% of general practices had closed books, but the figure was 38% in Southern — placing it 9th out of 20 DHBs.

A survey carried out as part of the study between August and September gave an overview of the situation at practices throughout the country, based on 227 responses from staff and owners.

The number of those reporting closed books had almost quadrupled between 2019 and last year, rising from 7% to 27%.

Mr Campbell said practices in Southland and Otago had gone above and beyond to care for communities during the pandemic.

Last year was "probably the most demanding time ever".

Practices accepting new enrolments could change from week to week, so a snapshot of one point in time was not an accurate picture.

There were about 80 general practices in Otago and Southland, among the largest number per capita in the country.

Being enrolled was "absolutely fundamental for good health" with benefits including lower fees, access to funded cancer screening programmes and vaccination programmes.

People who were not enrolled could call WellSouth’s helpline for assistance in finding a practice accepting new patients on 0800478256.

fiona.ellis@odt.co.nz

 

 

 

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