Nationwide Campaign Touts The Value Of Family Doctors, Hints At GP Crisis
by General Practitioners Aotearoa · SCOOPThis week marked the nationwide rollout of the “Everyone deserves a whānau doctor” campaign, coming to a billboard near you.
The advocacy campaign, backed by General Practitioners Aotearoa (GPA), aims to inform people of the GP crisis.
“The most important thing to know about the GP crisis is that it is avoidable and reversible,” says GPA spokesperson Dr Buzz Burrell.
“With adequate government funding, we can swell the number of GP appointments available using the doctors already practising in New Zealand. And we don’t even necessarily need any flashy new medical schools.”
Burrell says a huge number of New Zealand GPs are working part-time, retiring early, shifting to other medical specialties, or moving overseas to try and avoid the massive burnout associated with this line of work.
“This is especially true of our most experienced GPs who have been working in their communities for decades. But we’re also missing out on new trainees. Why would they choose to specialise in general practice during a GP burnout crisis?”
He says GPA members report that they would stay in the GP workforce and even increase the number of hours they work each week if working conditions were better.
“For every government dollar spent in primary care, $13 comes back to the coffers down the line. Investing in GPs keeps people out of hospital. It saves lives, and it saves a heck of a lot of taxpayer dollars.”
Burrell says GPA is not prepared to endorse any political party’s health policies.
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“To call them inadequate would be drastically underselling it. These health policies are reminiscent of a firefighter turning up to a raging inferno with a water pistol.”
No major political party has promised adequate working conditions for general practitioners.
Yellow billboards and signs are now appearing around the country, stating that “everyone deserves a whānau doctor” and asking Kiwis to demand more of their politicians.
“We're asking you to put pressure on your local MPs and election candidates,” Burrell says.
“Ask them what they are doing to protect your health and solve the GP crisis. Tell them there can be no more playing around with smoke and mirrors.
“The only thing that will solve the crisis is getting more GPs working in our clinics.”
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