Greens’ Health Funding Must Be Spent From The Bottom Up
by General Practitioners Aotearoa · SCOOPGPs welcome the Green Party’s pledged health funding, but say the money will be wasted if it doesn’t get to the front line.
On Friday, the party pledged $30 billion additional health funding over four years, roughly double what National and Labour have each pledged.
General Practitioners Aotearoa (GPA) urges the Green Party to commit to a defined bottom-up spending strategy to address the core crisis pushing healthcare to the brink.
GPA spokesperson Dr Buzz Burrell says politicians must stop treating primary care as an afterthought.
“The health system is a pyramid, with critical surgery at the tippity top,” he says. “The foundation layer is GPs and community healthcare holding everything up with their bare hands.
“The foundation is buckling while we watch, so of course the rest of the pyramid is falling down. But there’s absolutely no point piling more bricks on top. You’ve got to start the repair at the bottom.”
Any effective fix to the healthcare crisis must start with increasing the number of GPs.
GPA estimates New Zealand needs at least 500 more working GPs to safely meet demand.
Increasing access to GP appointments will reduce pressure on hospitals and save the health system billions of dollars.
Acknowledging Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s comments on strengthening primary, preventative, and community care, GPA stresses that broad rhetoric must be matched by more specific policy commitments.
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“The number of GPs isn’t going to increase while it’s the worst-paid medical specialty, with little funding for training, facilities, staff and medical resources,” Burrell says.
GPA urges all parties to ringfence health funding for improving GP working conditions and pay equity.
“I’m worried GPs are going to be passed over again,” Burrell says.
“A failing health system is expensive, and it can only be fixed from the ground up, starting with bolstering the number of GPs.”
No party has explicitly proposed policy or funding that will improve the GP crisis.
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