4. Hon TONY RYALL (National—Bay of Plenty) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does he stand by his comments to July’s rural health conference in Dunedin that claims of a general practitioner crisis were “exaggerated” and that he was “sick of the rural GP crisis syndrome”; if so, why?
Hon PETE HODGSON (Minister of Health) Link to this
I have said more than once that we need more general practitioners in New Zealand. I said in July, as I do now, that claims of crisis will make it harder to encourage younger doctors to become general practitioners.
In a week when the Minister announced a U-turn and a back-down on elective surgery, then announced a U-turn and a back-down on his view that there is no crisis in rural general practice, what is it that made him change his mind?
The member needs to pay more attention. In December of 2005, just before Christmas, I signalled publicly that we would need to increase general practitioner training places. Then the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners set about to find those training places. It has found them, and I was happy to announce last week that the details have been finalised and we can start training more general practitioners from next year.
Sue MoroneyIn addition to our 7-year, $2.2 billion investment in primary health, which has seen the sustainability of general practices improve—which the Government celebrates, I might say—I announced last week that we would fund an additional 15 general practitioner training places a year. The places will be targeted for young doctors to gain experience in rural New Zealand, and has been welcomed by the College of General Practitioners. In addition, the clinical training agency has a review of general practitioner training under way, which should offer more advice about the next steps needed to further develop the general practitioner workforce.
Barbara StewartIs the Minister concerned that a rural general practice network survey shows that patients can be at risk because some rural general practitioners are so seriously sleep deprived, due to on-call demands, that they may be clinically unsafe; if not, why not?
Although the number of general practitioners in New Zealand is comparable with Australia but slightly lower, and comparable with Britain but slightly higher, there is disparity, region for region, where general practitioners are. There is no shortage of general practitioners in the eastern suburbs of Auckland, and in the southern part of the West Coast there have not been general practitioners for decades. That continues to be a matter of concern for this Government.
In light of the Minister’s U-turns and denials, has he seen the unprecedented open letter to him from the Rural GP Network, referring to his claims of a rural general practitioner crisis being exaggerated, where it criticises him for implying that New Zealand does not have a general practitioner shortage, and says: “Minister, you are wrong. There is a problem that needs a solution. … Please don’t try to wish our problems away.”, and has the Minister considered what support he could give to rural New Zealand with the $768,000 that could make a difference if only Labour would pay it back?
Madam SPEAKERBefore I call the member, I will just remind members that when they are asking questions they do not preface them with editorial comment.
Gerry BrownleeMadam Speaker, I would have appreciated you giving that advice to the House at the conclusion of Annette King’s much-editorialised answer.
Would the member please be seated. I am talking about questions, and the member knows exactly which Standing Order I am referring to. Of course the answer has to address the question, and it must actually relate to that question. However, I could not hear much of Annette King’s answer, so I am sorry I cannot help you there.
It is a matter of fact that in years gone by the number of general practitioner training places has been under-subscribed. It is now a matter of fact that they are over-subscribed because more young doctors want to become general practitioners. In December of last year the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners advised the Government of that over-subscription and suggested an increase. An increase has been delivered and I am very proud about that.
Why is the Minister of Health paid $1,000 a day to deal with the pressing issues in our health service, such as the elective services crisis and problems in the mental health, maternity, and the general practitioner workforce, yet we have a Minister of Health who spends his day spinning for the Government and coming up with U-turn after U-turn—and will his next U-turn be that the Labour Government will, in fact, pay back the money that he said it would never pay back?
In respect of U-turns, it is difficult to see how a U-turn can have occurred when I have confirmed something that I first signalled in December 2005. However, the National Party’s current health policy, thin though it is, contains the advice that it intends to strip hundreds of millions of dollars from primary health. I want to know when it will change that policy and do a U-turn.
Jo GoodhewWhen the Minister opened a Dunedin rural general practitioner conference and accused the Opposition of exaggerating and romanticising about a general practitioner crisis, was he referring to the stressful, sleep-depriving, poorly paid, on-call work that threatens general practitioners’ family life, or to the patient-doctor ratios that see the Hokitika general practitioner Anna Dyzel caring for 5,500 patients on her own, or to the struggle that rural communities like Twizel, Waimate, Kurow, and Levin have to attract replacement general practitioners—what is so romantic about that?
It is a matter of fact that that meeting the member refers to had no media at it. In fact, the only person who has spoken at length about it is the member who asked the question. I invite her to characterise my remarks fully and accurately because that is the honourable thing to do.
When will the Minister admit what the Opposition has been saying for a year—that the best way to encourage medical students and registrars to live and work in rural areas is to give them lengthy experience in rural general practice, and that that is the key to solving the rural GP crisis? Maybe this will be his next U-turn.
The fact of the matter is that the Dunedin school of medicine has been pioneering in New Zealand rural practice. The Dunedin school of medicine is considering looking at longer experience in the undergraduate years—this is a matter for tertiary education, not health, of course. My colleague the Minister for Tertiary Education has—because he is not a person with reckless tax cuts on his mind—asked for a review to see whether the medical schools of New Zealand are being adequately funded, and the results of that review will be made available to him presently.
I seek leave to table the New Zealand Rural After-Hours Primary Care Provider Survey: the impact of oncall on providers and their families.
I seek leave to table the New Zealand Rural After-Hours Primary Care Provider Survey: finding workable solutions to providing rural after-hours care.
I seek leave to table the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Forecasting General Practitioner Workforce Capacity.
I seek leave to table two documents. The first shows Annette King as Opposition spokesperson on health saying there are not enough doctors in New Zealand, and that she would fix it.
I seek leave to table the second report, which shows that the number of doctors dropped every year she was Minister of Health.