Top GPs confirm New Zealanders’ healthcare needs will always be paramount

Following the release of the NZMA’s ‘red letter’ The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and General Practice New Zealand (GPNZ) are clear that general practice will continue to be a vital part of Aotearoa’s COVID-19 response, as we head towards the peak of the Omicron outbreak.

President of the College, Dr Samantha Murton says, “The community health sector has pivoted, upskilled, transformed, and changed constantly over the last two years to meet the needs of its patients, and will continue to do so.”

Dr Rachel Mackie, Chair of Te Akoranga a Māui, the College’s special Māori GP representative group supports that kōrero, saying, “Often our Māori and Pacific GPs have an added expectation from their communities to support our people in a more holistic way, or where healthcare goes beyond their clinical needs.

“We do not have enough of these GPs available to support our at-risk communities, and they are so overloaded with mahi they are at greater risk of burnout.” 

With 19,026 active cases of COVID, 179 cases in hospital and one in ICU it is reassuring that not many people require hospital level care. But that means most of the COVID-19 management has been and continues to be in the community, as well as ongoing COVID vaccinating and testing. 

Dr Murton said, “General practice teams continue to be there to look after their patients. But our workforce is hugely stretched and fatigued, and our concern is how we support our communities into the future beyond COVID-19, particularly with the backlog of essential work such as screening and childhood immunisation to protect the wellbeing of our population in the longer term.”

Chair of GPNZ, Dr Jeff Lowe highlighted the need for the current health system reforms to support a flourishing primary and community health sector, which provides most of the care to most of the people most of the time.