{"id":589365,"date":"2026-09-04T00:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/589365\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T00:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T00:34:11","slug":"union-calls-for-gp-practice-revamp-lets-try-a-different-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/589365\/","title":{"rendered":"Union calls for GP practice revamp: ‘Let’s try a different model’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two medical unions are calling for Health New Zealand to immediately begin employing specialist general practitioners to increase access in underserved areas.<\/p>\n

They want public health GPs to work alongside resident doctors training to become GPs.<\/p>\n

In a new report, the Resident Doctors Association and the Apex Union also ask Health New Zealand to create a new primary care arm.<\/p>\n

The research looks at issues such as growing corporate ownership and the shortage of GPs along with other primary care professionals.<\/p>\n

Resident Doctors’ Association national secretary Deborah Powell told Nine to Noon there was a problem with retaining GPs plus a “retirement bulge” of GPs was looming.<\/p>\n

Call to directly employ GPs for under-served areas<\/p>\n

The number of GP trainees had been increased this year which was pleasing, but she stressed there was all manner of models with a rise in corporate ownership of general practices.<\/p>\n

Corporates were also involved in the urgent care field so “it’s a bit of a mismatch out there”.<\/p>\n

The union carried out the research to help with providing more employment options for doctors as well as concern over the knock-on effects for emergency departments when patients couldn’t access timely primary care.<\/p>\n

As well, it was worried that people in high deprivation areas such as Gisborne, Tai R\u0101whiti, Northland<\/a> and Counties Manukau were missing out on services.<\/p>\n

About 320,000 people were not enrolled in primary care and many of them were in the deprived areas, Powell said.<\/p>\n

“We’re saying let’s try a different model ….we need to try something different.”<\/p>\n

She said the paper made a good case for trying its suggested model of a new primary care arm in the deprived areas first.<\/p>\n

Under the model, Health NZ would set up the practice and employ the GPs.<\/p>\n

Among the staff would be house officers who were already on a pathway towards becoming GPs, registrars and fully qualified GPs.<\/p>\n

Physiotherapists, pharmacists, nurses, social workers and psychologists would all have a critical role to play also, Powell said.<\/p>\n

The organisation representing GPs, the General Practice Owners Association this week has stressed the importance of GPs, the need for continuity of care and not so much emphasis on TeleHealth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Powell said GenPro had made a solid case. She was concerned continuity of care was already breaking down, especially in the corporate sector.<\/p>\n

Changes the union was advocating would see as one example TeleHealth be integrated into the general practice.<\/p>\n

“So when you requested a TeleHealth appointment we would do the best to make sure you saw your regular doctor.<\/p>\n

“So we’re not looking to move away from best practice in primary care. We’re looking to use the technologies we now have to strengthen it.”<\/p>\n

The community practices the union was advocating would be open beyond regular hours, especially in areas like Manukau.<\/p>\n

\"Doctor<\/p>\n

Community practices would operate for much longer hours than traditional medical centres, Deborah Powell says.<\/p>\n

123rf<\/p>\n

Corporate ownership trend disturbs union<\/p>\n

Powell said general practices have traditionally been owned by GPs and the union was worried about the growing trend for corporates to buy them.<\/p>\n

One in four GPs is now employed by a corporate which raised questions of where was the priority for spending.<\/p>\n

Corporates had responsibilities to shareholders “so it does shift where money is going to be directed”.<\/p>\n

Billions of dollars were spent on primary care. GP-run practices prioritised patient care while a corporate must include a focus on delivering a return on investment for shareholders, Powell said.<\/p>\n

“So the question inevitably must be asked, is this the best use of public money and where will the priorities sit when it comes to making a decision on spending money to do more for our patients or to satisfy our shareholders.”<\/p>\n

She added: “Corporatisation is increasing in primary care and I think all New Zealanders should be watching that and asking some questions.”<\/p>\n

Funding given to primary health organisations (PHOs) for their administration would be better directed going from Health New Zealand directly to community general practices, Powell said.<\/p>\n

She said the vaccination programme was one example of where two different organisations (Health NZ and the PHOs) were doubling up.<\/p>\n

The PHOs were like “a middle man” and cutting them from the equation would free up more money to go into primary care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two medical unions are calling for Health New Zealand to immediately begin employing specialist general practitioners to increase…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-589365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}