Shane Reti. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Primary health providers are rejecting Health NZ / Te Whatu Ora's increase of 4 percent to core general practice funding.
They say the government is shortchanging GPs - whose margins are already thin - as well as their patients, whose ability to pay more for a doctor's visit is already frayed.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said the current government has invested more money in health than ever before, and in a challenging financial environment.
Dr Bryan Betty, chair of General Practice New Zealand, told Morning Report the health agency's offer has been strongly rejected by GPs. He said says over the past year the cost of running a general practice has gone up about 9 percent - bringing the total deficit now to about 14 percent.
"We need to understand that general practice is not fully funded," Betty said. "So the patient does have to pay to see a doctor to actually cover the cost of delivering healthcare, the extra cost. So this year the fees that patients pay to see the doctor will have to go up in order to cover the cost of continuing to deliver healthcare."
The government has allowed GPs to up their prices by up to 7.76 percent, short of the 9 percent increase in costs Betty claimed.
"The basic problem here is what's happened over the last 10 years is there's been a growing underlying funding shortfall that's developed. This was identified in something called the Sapare report in 2022, which estimated that over the previous 10 years that general practice was underfunded to the tune of about 9 percent. That's risen to about 14 percent we think this year, and as a result of that, these increases do not cover that underlying deficit.
"So we've got real real concerns that some practices may not be viable going forward, and we've seen examples of that start to pop up around the country. So this viability of general practices in certain areas is of great great concern at this point."
Bryan Betty. Photo: Ross Giblin / Stuff
In a statement, Reti acknowledged "the challenges facing primary care".
"The total primary care, public and population health appropriation uplift for 2024/25 is an additional $531 million. For the 2024/25 year, the Health NZ Board has approved an additional $223 million for annual price uplifts for the primary and community sector across commissioning, along with an additional $117m held to respond to increase in demand due largely to population growth.
"An additional $16.4m will be provided to Pacific and public health services in sector uplifts and demand.
"So while recognising pressures, those are very significant sums of public money, and this government has invested more money in health than ever before, in a challenging financial environment."
Reti said the Ministry of Health was also working on policy and changes "needed to achieve comprehensive and accessible primary and community healthcare to better prevent ill health and support the wellbeing of people in New Zealand in the longer-term".
