GP crisis at Kaitāia’s Switzer Home averted — for now

To the rescue: The staff of Maungatapere Medical Centre — from left, Tana Iosefa, Liz Denton and Jim Schimanski — will provide a temporary solution to the GP crisis facing Kaitāia’s Switzer Home. Photo / Tania Whyte

A GP crisis that left more than 50 residents at Kaitaia’s only rest home without health care has been averted — for now.

Last month the Age revealed Switzer Residential Care residents, many of whom have little mobility and complex health needs, were just weeks away from being without a doctor due to a staffing crisis in Far North frontline healthcare.

Te Hiku Hauora pulled out of a contract to provide care to 53 out of roughly 100 elderly residents after the Kaitāia-based GP practice was unable to find any locums (short-term doctors) beyond the end of March.

The crisis had been looming since November but efforts to find a replacement GP service had failed. Appeals to the Health Ministry or MPs had also been unsuccessful, according to the trust that runs the home.

However, the crisis has now been averted thanks to an agreement with the newly established Maungatapere Medical Centre, based just west of Whangārei.

Claud Switzer Memorial Trust chairman John Carter said it was by no means a permanent fix.

“But it gives us time to seek a long-term solution, and will hopefully go some way to relieving the concerns of some residents and their families.”

After the GP crisis became public the home received offers of help from Wellington, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Auckland and Whangārei, he said.

The agreement with the Maungatapere GP clinic was for 12 weeks with a renewal for a further 12 weeks if necessary.

That would meet the level of care residents were entitled to, Carter said.

The clinic’s GP and practice nurse would visit the home once a month and conduct further consultations online via Zoom.

More than 50 residents at Switzer Residential Care, on South Rd in Kaitāia, were left without GP care after Te Hiku Hauora ended its contract with the rest home. Photo / Supplied

Some services previously provided by GPs would be covered by the home’s registered nurses, while residents who fell ill would have 24-hour access to medical services at Kaitāia Hospital.

Virtual healthcare provider Emergency Consult Ltd would assist by providing consultations for new admissions.

Carter said the home had 19 new admissions in the past eight weeks, so that was a significant part of the GP service that was required.

“We’re also talking with a couple of doctors who are keen to offer a more permanent service, albeit mainly by Zoom, so at least we now have options we didn’t have a few weeks ago. This is not an ideal situation, but it’s much better than anything that was in prospect earlier in March.”

Practice nurse Liz Denton, who co-owns Maungatapere Medical Centre with GP Jim Schimanski, said they were under no illusions about the challenges of providing GP care for a rest home that was 190km away.

“But we are a brand-new medical centre so we still have space on our books. The home was in dire need and we are happy to help,” she said.

“Jim and I both have a real interest in aged care, and we recognise how important it is for people to be able to stay in an environment they know and are familiar with.”

Claud Switzer Memorial Trust chairman and former Far North Mayor John Carter. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Meanwhile, as part of a broader solution, Carter called on Immigration NZ to make it easier to recruit medical staff, including GPs, from overseas by allowing them to apply for residence.

Currently, they could enter New Zealand only on a work visa, which meant they couldn’t settle with their families and had no guarantee of permanence.

“We’ll continue to argue the case for a relaxation of the immigration rules, but in the meantime this agreement with Maungatapere Medical Centre has given us some breathing space.”

Switzer Home residents who were enrolled with Top Health were not directly affected by Te Hiku Hauora’s withdrawal, but Carter said everyone in the Far North was affected by the GP shortage.

It also made it harder to recruit other staff for the rest home because new workers were unable to enrol with a GP when they moved to Kaitāia.

All three Kaitāia GP clinics — Te Hiku Hauora, Broadway Health and Top Health — stopped taking new patients in 2019.

“While that situation continues, finding staff, not just at the home but for all employers, will be a major challenge,” Carter said.

Last month Te Hiku Hauora practice manager Cheryl Britton said the decision to pull out of the Switzer contract had not been easy, and could have been upsetting for residents who had been Te Hiku patients for many years.

However, GP staffing levels were in crisis and Te Hiku no longer had the capacity to care for Switzer residents.

Maungatapere Medical Centre opened in February.