What's happening with the GP shortage in Wairarapa. Compass respond...

Piers Fuller Reporter from News of Wairarapa

Hi,
I have been writing an article on the GP shortage in Wairarapa and asked the primary health organisation Compass to let me know what their strategy is. I was unable to put all their info in the article so I thought I would post it on Neighbourly for you to read. Here is what they said:

In the last week Masterton Medical Ltd (MML) has been hit by a combination of staff sickness and the sudden departure of a fulltime GP. As a result MML has temporarily closed its books and is not available for routine casual appointments.
The vast majority (nearly 100%) of our Wairarapa population is enrolled and will be able to access appointments with their general practice as normal. MML runs acute clinics and ensures all enrolled patients with an urgent need are seen promptly. Our current challenge is with meeting the needs of casual patients – those who are not enrolled. All practices will continue to see urgent casual patients (where urgency is clinically indicated). However, our clinical workforce is so tight the practices are currently struggling to see non-urgent casuals.
Several practices are seeing casual patients, and are enrolling – Martinborough, Featherston, and Greytown, but they are some distance geographically from Masterton. This week Carterton and Masterton Medical are trying to free up staff to see other casual patients as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that this situation has arisen at the time when across the system we are feeling the effects of winter, which simultaneously reduces supply and increases demand.
This immediate situation is a result of the unplanned departure of a specific GP, a retirement of an older GP, and winter demand combined with winter illness. However, it is a symptom of a broader systematic problem; our Wairarapa population has been growing recently, and we need to also grow our labour force. Our enrolled population of over 65-year olds grew by 5.8% in the 12 months to 1 July 2018. Not only do all these people need GPs, the elderly often have more complex conditions and need to see a GP more often and for longer. At the same time recruiting clinical staff is difficult and costly in rural and provincial areas. It can cost a practice between $40k-$60k to recruit a GP and it is currently hard to attract and retain clinicians in the Wairarapa.

Masterton Medical has been doing a lot to recruit new GPs and to meet the additional demand, but we do need a more a more complete solution.

The medium term strategy is to strengthen primary care through the Health Care Home programme and by recruiting additional permanent GPs to the area. Tū Ora Compass Health is working to help recruit GPs to the smaller practices, including Greytown and Kuripuni.

MML has a good pipeline of GPs and can generally manage their own demand well – notwithstanding the current unusual situation. Featherston Medical is well staffed and expanding.

The other medium term sustainable solution which the DHB and PHO are working together on is to move all Wairarapa practices to the Health Care Home Model over the next 3 years. This will free up capacity and build on the good quality care already received by our enrolled population. The programme involves making better use of nursing staff and nurse practitioners – providing the opportunity to have all staff operating at the top of their scope. It will make the Wairarapa a more attractive destination for younger GPs, and help with recruitment and retention. I believe we will be the first complete district to be working in the new model which provides great opportunities for us to improve services for our patients.