GPs want more money for clinics

Doctors are calling on the Government to increase funding for after-hours clinics which provide overnight services.

The New Zealand Medical Association says it knows of up to eight after-hours clinics in the North Island which are in a perilous state.

Peter Foley, chairman of the association's GP (general practitioner) Council, said on National Radio yesterday that the after-hours service was costly as there were few customers, so GPs were carrying the burden.

"This is a problem that needs to be solved by the DHBs [district health boards], community and the Ministry of Health," Dr Foley said.

National Radio quoted the ministry's head of clinical services, Colin Feek, as saying the ministry was putting three-quarters of a billion dollars into primary health organisations over the next four years.

It was up to them and district health boards to work out funding arrangements.

- NZPA