Shona Sangster says GP shortages on the mainland add to the pressure of Rakiura residents accessing healthcare. Photo \/ RNZ, Mark Papalii<\/p>\n
A survey of 78 residents last year revealed frustration with the expense and stress of accessing mainland care and concern about burnout among the nurses holding the system together.<\/p>\n
Residents praised the nurses as \u201camazing\u201d, \u201csuperheroes\u201d and \u201cdedicated\u201d but they told RNZ the biggest frustration was the difficulty in seeing a GP.<\/p>\n
Angela Karaitiana said each visit to a clinic in Bluff or Invercargill cost hundreds of dollars once transport was factored in.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just pop to the doctor here \u2013 you have to get a flight. It takes you a day out of work and your life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Some trips were unavoidable, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other day my husband went over for a medical for his fishing ticket and they were running late. So the plane was at this time and back at this time, and then [the clinic] was running late. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then it\u2019s like \u2018is there a later plane or do I just have to cancel and come back and go over another time?\u2019 See that stuff\u2019s a pain,\u201d Karaitiana said.<\/p>\n
Shona Sangster said GP shortages on the mainland compounded the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m registered with a practice in Invercargill and it\u2019s six weeks to get an appointment with my GP. And then, if for whatever reason, I can\u2019t get over there because the weather packed in and the plane can\u2019t fly or the boat can\u2019t go then I have to wait another six weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bruce Ford said the long waits were familiar to him too.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou tend to be a bit cautious about what you want and even now if you want to have an appointment they say \u2018oh we can see you in three weeks\u2019 time\u2019 and a fat lot of bloody use that is if you\u2019ve got something bad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Residents surveyed told Health NZ they were worried about burnout and unsafe cover for those working at Stewart Island Health Centre, describing the clinic as \u201cold and cluttered\u201d.<\/p>\n
Health NZ found elderly and hap\u016b m\u0101m\u0101 were being forced off the island for care, services were stretched during tourism peaks and there were \u201cfeelings of neglect by the system\u201d.<\/p>\n
People were also worried about the difficulty enrolling with mainland GPs, the survey found.<\/p>\n
Three days, no cover<\/p>\n
The survey was carried out in October and preceded a review into how care was delivered on the island.<\/p>\n
There were just two nurses working at Stewart Island Health Centre at the time.<\/p>\n
Data released under the Official Information Act showed in July 2025 the island was without any resident nurse for three days after both fell sick and no cover could be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth NZ Southern region exhausted all efforts to cover the sick leave, including extended cover from another staff member and cover from both within the Southern region and outside the district,\u201d a Health NZ spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Health NZ put St John and police on notice and made a charge nurse at Southland Hospital available for phone calls, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Health NZ had started working with local providers and the Stewart Island Health Committee on a phased plan \u2013 looking at better links to mainland GPs, more digital support and options for visiting doctors, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Three nurses were now working 1.6 fulltime equivalent roles with one clinician typically on duty at any given time and on-call after-hours care available, Health NZ said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWork is underway to strengthen healthcare access by improving connections to primary care, enhancing digital support, and working closely with Hauora M\u0101ori partners to strengthen their role in supporting care delivery. These are early-stage considerations and will continue to be shaped alongside the community and providers,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Save your ailments up for a month\u2019<\/p>\n
Health NZ said it was not considering a fulltime GP and encouraged locals to enrol with an appropriate doctor.<\/p>\n
Sangster said a resident GP would be a luxury and she was uncertain the population justified it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if it could be made to work that would be the Rolls Royce option… I\u2019m not opposed to a GP here but I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s the need for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ford recalled a system that used to be effective \u2013 a GP visiting once a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just had to save your ailments up for a month and that sort of worked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the island\u2019s culture of stoicism could be dangerous as residents tended to push through illness rather than seek help, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople will have something wrong with them and they\u2019ll hold on and hold on and then they\u2019re in big trouble and they do have to get med-evac\u2019d in the middle of the night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Not all residents shared that concern.<\/p>\n
Helen Cave said the nurses were a genuine asset and the trade-offs were simply part of island life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got good backup, they\u2019re communicative, they do your blood tests. I think we\u2019ve got a better service than if you were in Invercargill or one of my kids moved to W\u0101naka this year \u2013 I think there\u2019s better services here than in W\u0101naka.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health NZ declined RNZ\u2019s interview requests.<\/p>\n
It said future changes would factor in the community and provider\u2019s views.<\/p>\n
\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shona Sangster says GP shortages on the mainland add to the pressure of Rakiura residents accessing healthcare. Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,295484,10680,580,137,500,17358,295486,97361,242655,40555,51303,319,43034,295485],"class_list":{"0":"post-607344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-costly","11":"tag-face","12":"tag-for","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-healthcare","15":"tag-island","16":"tag-katie","17":"tag-mainland","18":"tag-rakiura","19":"tag-residents","20":"tag-stewart","21":"tag-to","22":"tag-todd","23":"tag-trips"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}