Health funding is a challenge for every health system in the world and it is for us too. Recently I was approached to offer comment on the GP shortage in Whangarei which is also a nationwide problem.
A petition has been raised by a Whangārei resident concerned with the shortage of GPs in Northland. We have heard there have been GP shortages in the Far North with books closed to new patients and in Whangārei there are only a few GPs taking new patients. Furthermore, the waiting time to see a GP can be several days to weeks with people sometimes needing to resort to A & E.
I have been on the health select committee for the past five years and am currently the deputy chair. Every year for the past few years I have asked every DHB and the Ministry of Health how many GPs there are per capita. It had been my observation that GPs were getting busier and colleagues retiring and I wanted to keep a track of the numbers.
Over the past few weeks I have reports back from Northland DHB and the Ministry of Health showing roughly one full time GP per 1300 people across New Zealand generally. In Whangārei the figure is 1 GP per 1800 people, nearly 40 per cent more patients per GP than the rest of New Zealand. This would be consistent with the long waiting times that people are noticing, the closed books and the sense that my colleagues are working longer and harder.