Dunedin City GP is setting up a new low cost branch where people will pay just $15 to see a doctor. File picture. Photo: 123rf
A Dunedin GP is setting up a low cost clinic where people will pay just $15 to see a doctor after noticing the cost of living pressures are really hurting patients.
Seeing a GP can cost anything from $40 to $90 around the country with people in some areas waiting more than six weeks for an appointment.
Dr Adrian Hindes, who works at Dunedin City GP, believes a different approach is needed.
And with an increase in high needs patients on low incomes, there is demand for a low fees clinic.
Hindes told Checkpoint Dunedin City GP was a standard medical clinic with about 3000 patients.
"We're adding in a new branch to this clinic and we're calling it Dunedin Community Health, it's a different funding stream, it makes use of the government's VLCA or very low cost access funding model and so we get a little bit more money from the government to assist us with this."
Although the additional government funding would help, it would definitely not cover the full cost of the cheaper fees, he said.
Recent research in the Sapere report that looked at funding models in general practice found that standard general practices were underfunded by about 10 to 20 percent, but that VLCA practices were underfunded by between 34 and 200 percent, he said.
The three doctors who worked at the clinic were all used to working in the charitable communities space and have worked for low cost practices, he said.
"I spent 12 years working in a free clinic for people most in need in Dunedin up until the end of last year ... so for some of us it's just part of our DNA if you like to do pro bono work or stuff that's charitable."
Hindes said he was expecting there to be a lot of demand for the new clinic.
"We're in an area in Dunedin where there was a VLCA clinic up until about two years ago and so that clinic had numbers usually around about 1000 patients."
Patients who did not have access to a VLCA but could not afford a standard GP appointment may end up waiting long hours at an emergency department, he said.
"That's not what emergency departments are for but that becomes the default position for a lot of people that are struggling to pay GP fees."
Those using a VLCA clinic might include anyone who could not afford a regular GP appointment, community service card holders, as well as the three eligibility groups which were Māori, Pacific Islanders and anyone living in a low decile area, he said.
