College of GPs welcome commitment to grow Aotearoa’s health workforce

The Health Minister’s commitment to growing the workforce is a welcome step in addressing the issues that all health workers are facing, says The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

College President Dr Samantha Murton says, “All medical specialities, including general practice and rural hospital medicine, are experiencing staff shortages.

“This is resulting in longer wait times, closed practices, reduced hours and services, and fewer available beds which in turn is having a serious impact on the health of New Zealanders, and this is not acceptable.”

When it comes to growing the number of specialist general practitioners and rural hospital doctors, today’s announcement made mention of implementing the Workforce Plan to grow this workforce, increasing the number of Māori and Pasifika GPs and establishing a National RMO Support Service.

“Specialist general practitioners and primary healthcare teams improve life expectancies of the communities they serve, so the actions to grow our workforce need to be top of mind in the post-election first 100 days.

“The College acknowledges the importance of increasing “homegrown” GPs and rural hospital doctors, including more Māori and Pasifika, because we need a workforce that truly reflects and understands our country’s diverse population.

“The College will continue to advocate for its over 5,700 members and address the workforce’s concerns by presenting solutions to ensure this crucial part of the sector is valued and sustainable now and into the future,” says Dr Murton.

Today’s announcement from Minister Verrall is to train 335 more doctors every year from 2027, which includes their existing commitment of 50 additional medical school places in 2024, and an additional 95 places in 2025, 2026, and 2027.