Rural general practitioners have joined their urban colleagues in rejecting Health NZ’s primary healthcare funding offer, labelling it “disrespectful”.
Rural Health Network chief executive Grant Davidson said the government’s proposed 4% increase in baseline funding defies Health NZ’s own independent study that calculated practices needed an annual increase of 5.58%.
The shortfall is expected to be made up by practices increasing patient co-payments.
General practice owners estimate they need an increase in excess of 14% to be financially viable in the long term.
Davidson said increasing co-payments to visit a rural GP puts further burdens on people already struggling with the high cost of living, let alone the financially disadvantaged who can’t currently afford to visit their doctor.
It will also disproportionately impact those in rural areas who face a shortage of health professionals, have the greatest distance to source healthcare and struggle to pay for transport and get time off work to make the appointments.
Health NZ’s offer does not include an increase in payments for dealing with
patients who have complex health needs, or for regions with high Māori populations and other flexible funding pools needed to meet community needs.
Davidson said that earlier this month Health Minister Shane Reti and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey released their Government Policy Statement outlining their direction for health over the next three years.
“In this document, there is a strong emphasis on improving the health outcomes of those groups with the highest health needs including Māori, Pacific peoples, disabled, women and those living in rural communities.”
It also had a focus on health systems delivered close to homes and a directive to ensure a health workforce is retained, particularly in geographically isolated areas.
Davidson said this funding offer fails to fulfil the statement’s requirement.
“This funding offer is a complete fail on behalf of Health NZ and its board, who have the job of implementing the Government Policy Statement and the Pae Ora Healthy Future Act, both of which placed a greater emphasis on general practice.”
