Latest news with #PatientVoiceAotearoa
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Budget could be 'matter of life or death' for some patients, advocate says
Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham For some cancer patients, the Budget could literally be a matter of life-or-death. Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland will lead a delegation of blood cancer patients to Parliament on Thursday to see if the Budget will deliver on the government's promise they "won't be forgotten". The backlash after last year's Budget failed to include funding for National's pre-election promise of extra cancer treatments forced the gvernment a couple of months later to produce another $604m for Pharmac over four years. That welcome investment allowed Pharmac to fund a range of drugs for patients with solid tumours - but increased inequities for blood cancer patients, Mulholland said. "Blood cancer patients haven't had anything. If we look at just multiple myeloma for example, 450 people are diagnosed every year, but there's been no new drug funded since 2014. That to me is criminal." While the previous Health Minister Dr Shane Reti had given his assurances that blood cancer patients "would not be forgotten", his replacement, Simeon Brown, has made no commitments. Brown's only pre-Budget announcement has been an extra $164m for after-hours GPs and urgent care in targeted regions. While welcoming the support, GP leaders noted primary care in general needed a massive cash injection. A Health NZ briefing to Dr Reti in January 2024, projected a $173m shortfall in funding to GPs for the year, and estimated primary care needed a boost of between $353m and $1.4b to address "unmet need". General Practice NZ chair Bryan Betty said the capitation funding model - the way the government funds general practices based on the number and age of enrolled patients - was 20 years old and "no longer fit for purpose". "General practice is faced with a lot more complexity in terms of patients, patients who are not being seen in the hospital and they're expecting general practice to pick up and deal with, and also the volume of what we're actually seeing." General Practice NZ chair Bryan Betty. Photo: Supplied Dr Betty, a family doctor in Porirua, said the last capitation uplift was not enough to cover inflation, so the government allowed GPs to raise their fees. "There is concern about the amount of money people are paying to see their GP now, so I think we have to avoid shifting cost to patients." However, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, which represents senior hospital doctors and dentists, said there was not a single area of health, which was not "desperate" for more money. Its director of policy and research, Harriet Wild, said there was little point pumping more money into primary care without balancing it up with more investment in secondary services. "For example, if you're going to invest in primary care, but you're not going to invest in secondary and hospital care, you're going to get more people needing and gaining hospital referrals to have their conditions managed and treated. But if there isn't a complementary investment in secondary care, there's not going to be anyone to manage them." With every health budget, it was "not so much where the money is going - it's where it's coming from", she noted. "It's all about savings, it's all about ending time-limited funding. Re-appropriating is the name of the game. And I think we'll continue to see more of that in 2025." Last year's Budget included an extra $16b over four years to meet cost pressures. However, Wild said that was not enough. Analysis by leading health economist Peter Huskinson found day-to-day government spend per person on health actually dropped 3 percent last year. "We are estimating that Budget 2025 is going to need an extra $2b in operational funding, just to stand still," Wild said. "Our members are constantly being asked to do more with less, and then they're asked to do more again." Health systems expert Professor Robin Gauld - who moved from Otago to Bond University in Australia this year - said there was never enough money for health. Health systems expert Professor Robin Gauld. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer "And [what] governments will always claim is big new investments, which there probably is - but it will be dealing with shortfalls and inflation adjustments and targeted to certain areas." Instead of just shovelling more money into a broken system, the government needed to fund research to re-design it, Professor Gauld said. He has proposed a national health insurance model like Singapore's (which works a bit like ACC), which would take the health budget out of the hands of politicians. "In Singapore, they're working really hard to solve problems with a long-range view. It's not a political bun-fight or a game like it is in New Zealand. "Here's it's a political game for people who then walk away and go on to other jobs, having said that they did 'a great job'. "They blame their successors, and their successors blame the forebears, instead of all working together in a Singaporean way to try and actually improve population health and the system that supports it." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Patients paying over $200 to visit after-hours in Palmerston North
Photo: Andrey Popov 123RF Some patients seeking treatment at a Palmerston North after hours clinic could face a bill of more than $200. Palmerston North after-hours clinic is one of the most expensive places to seek care in New Zealand, costing between $225 (with a community services card) to $260 for a non-enrolled patient for a medical consult, and between $85 (with a community services card) and $110 for enrolled patients. On Sunday, the government announced a $164 million boost to urgent care services throughout the country over the next four years. The announcement includes new 24/7 urgent care services for Auckland's Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin. While new and extended daytime urgent care services will be rolled out in Lower Hutt, Invercargill and Timaru. Patient Voice Aotearoa's Malcolm Mullholland said it is unclear if the boost will help to make services more affordable. "It's not uncommon to walk in there and see the waiting room bursting at the seams with patients, (and) there to be wait times of four hours or more. On top of that, if you are seen, there is a horrendous cost attached to that," Mullholland told Morning Report. He said for many patients, the cost is too expensive so they go to Palmerston North Hospital's emergency department instead. But it's not just Palmerston North experiencing costly after hours' visits. "I've heard of horrendous costs else where, in particular, around Queenstown and Central Otago," Mullholland said. "I understand it's a common price to pay over $200 down that part of the world and I suspect it's very high elsewhere." Mullholland said he doesn't know why the clinic costs that much, however, noted the number of gps at the Palmerston North after-hours has reduced due to doctors retiring. "We just do not have enough GPs in Aotearoa," he said. The clinic is operating with a deficit of around 10 doctors, according to the owner of the clinic, City Doctors. "[It's] putting the few GPs who are left under immense pressure, with increased workloads and longer hours," City Doctor said in a press release earlier this year. "We have actively engaged with stakeholders in the region and continue to request support from GPs not currently contributing at an equitable level, but unfortunately, we still do not have enough clinician support." City Doctors has been approached for further comment on their pricing. Brown told Morning Report on Monday the government's investments in primary care will ensure new urgent care clinics are adequately staffed with doctors . Funding had been allocated to train 50 more GPs a year, 100 overseas doctors already in NZ, and for 120 nurse practitioners per year, he said.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
More Doctorless Or Closed Hospitals In NZ?
Press Release: Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) has been provided information, detailing the extreme staff shortages rural hospitals in New Zealand are faced with. The following table shows the advertised need for locums in our rural hospitals over the coming months. A description of 'open to any availability' or 'open to availability', means the hospital is in extreme need of one or more locums. PVA is aware that the three hospitals that are in the Far North (Dargaville, Bay of Islands, and Kaitaia) have been doctorless and have relied on telehealth services when patients have presented to ED. Gisborne Hospital has the highest doctor vacancy rate in the country at 44%, and Southland Hospital is experiencing a shortage of 18%. Nelson Hospital's staffing woes have been well reported over the past few months, with patients missing out on vital procedures and operations. Te Rau Kawakawa (Westport) had shut its doors for a month during the first year of operation for the new facility last year, as did Oamaru Hospital several times in 2023 after being unable to source a locum. Last year, a shortage of doctors at Greymouth Hospital almost saw the facility shut its doors in November, and more than once staff at Taupo Hospital had to draw contingency plans to shut their doors over the course of the previous year, again due to the shortage of doctors. Masterton Hospital ED has had to 'effectively close their doors' due to there being no beds available to admit patients to, was short by some 40 nurses last year, and had two orthopaedic surgeons resign. Whakatane has had to close its obstetrics and gynaecology service due to having no specialists in the field, and hospital staff now fear the closure of the mental health ward due to only having one psychiatrist. Whakatane ED will be staffed up to 50% when three American doctors arrive in August and September this year and the hospital only has one orthopaedic specialist on call for three or four days a week. Thames Hospital has been reliant on locums for some time, as they require over 12 full time equivalent senior medical officers and only have just over 5, and they are also short of medical officers. Timaru Hospital is struggling to recruit doctors in the fields of palliative care and anaesthesia. Wairau Hospital is low on staff overall and is struggling to recruit more, especially into paediatric care. States Chair of PVA, Malcolm Mulholland, who has been touring the country and engaging with hospital staff from rural hospitals 'It's bad enough to be so reliant on locums, but what happens if these positions cannot be filled? Are hospitals then reliant on resident medical officers, a nurse, or telehealth services? Will hospitals be doctorless or shut, as has the case in the Far North, Westport or Oamaru? Yesterday the Minister of Health announced a plan for 24/7 urgent care services. Some of the locations listed are where rural hospitals are situated that are struggling to recruit doctors. What will happen if an urgent care doctor refers a patient to a local hospital where there is no doctor? I sincerely hope that this week's budget deals with the real issue of why we can't recruit and retain doctors in our hospitals. Our government needs to pay them substantially more, so we can compete on the international market to attract their services, which in turn, will hopefully create a critical mass of doctors. If the Government fails to tackle the issue, we will start to see more doctorless hospitals or more hospitals shut their doors.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
More Doctorless Or Closed Hospitals In NZ?
Press Release: Patient Voice Aotearoa (PVA) has been provided information, detailing the extreme staff shortages rural hospitals in New Zealand are faced with. The following table shows the advertised need for locums in our rural hospitals over the coming months. A description of 'open to any availability' or 'open to availability', means the hospital is in extreme need of one or more locums. PVA is aware that the three hospitals that are in the Far North (Dargaville, Bay of Islands, and Kaitaia) have been doctorless and have relied on telehealth services when patients have presented to ED. Gisborne Hospital has the highest doctor vacancy rate in the country at 44%, and Southland Hospital is experiencing a shortage of 18%. Nelson Hospital's staffing woes have been well reported over the past few months, with patients missing out on vital procedures and operations. Te Rau Kawakawa (Westport) had shut its doors for a month during the first year of operation for the new facility last year, as did Oamaru Hospital several times in 2023 after being unable to source a locum. Last year, a shortage of doctors at Greymouth Hospital almost saw the facility shut its doors in November, and more than once staff at Taupo Hospital had to draw contingency plans to shut their doors over the course of the previous year, again due to the shortage of doctors. Masterton Hospital ED has had to 'effectively close their doors' due to there being no beds available to admit patients to, was short by some 40 nurses last year, and had two orthopaedic surgeons resign. Whakatane has had to close its obstetrics and gynaecology service due to having no specialists in the field, and hospital staff now fear the closure of the mental health ward due to only having one psychiatrist. Whakatane ED will be staffed up to 50% when three American doctors arrive in August and September this year and the hospital only has one orthopaedic specialist on call for three or four days a week. Thames Hospital has been reliant on locums for some time, as they require over 12 full time equivalent senior medical officers and only have just over 5, and they are also short of medical officers. Timaru Hospital is struggling to recruit doctors in the fields of palliative care and anaesthesia. Wairau Hospital is low on staff overall and is struggling to recruit more, especially into paediatric care. States Chair of PVA, Malcolm Mulholland, who has been touring the country and engaging with hospital staff from rural hospitals 'It's bad enough to be so reliant on locums, but what happens if these positions cannot be filled? Are hospitals then reliant on resident medical officers, a nurse, or telehealth services? Will hospitals be doctorless or shut, as has the case in the Far North, Westport or Oamaru? Yesterday the Minister of Health announced a plan for 24/7 urgent care services. Some of the locations listed are where rural hospitals are situated that are struggling to recruit doctors. What will happen if an urgent care doctor refers a patient to a local hospital where there is no doctor? I sincerely hope that this week's budget deals with the real issue of why we can't recruit and retain doctors in our hospitals. Our government needs to pay them substantially more, so we can compete on the international market to attract their services, which in turn, will hopefully create a critical mass of doctors. If the Government fails to tackle the issue, we will start to see more doctorless hospitals or more hospitals shut their doors.
RNZ News
19-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Patient Voice Aotearoa on govt's $164 million for urgent care
The government has announced $164 million to boost urgent care services across the country over the next four years. Patient Voice Aotearoa's Malcolm Mullholland spoke to Charlotte Cook. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
