By GP fax pollThursday 02 February 2012, 12:00PM
A month-by-month view of how GPs felt about the topical, or
the merely intriguing, issues of the day, as gleaned from New
Zealand Doctor/IMS Health faxpolls of 2011.
February
The 2010/11 Christmas-New Year holidays prompted almost
three-quarters of GPs to take time off. Arranging locum covered
proved difficult, with one-third of GPs saying they could not get
locum cover. However, that did not stop them taking a break.
March
The majority of GPs felt registrars who have passed Primex and are
in their second stage of general practice training should retain
voting rights in RNZCGP matters.
April
More than 90 per cent of GPs indicated they had never been offered
an inducement, for example, from a drug company, to endorse a
product or prescribe a specific medication. "New Zealand is too
small and GPs are a boringly honest bunch," one GP commented.
June
More GPs were putting up fees. Almost 50 per cent of GPs reported
putting their fees up two to three times in the past four years,
compared with our 2007 finding that 9.5 per cent of GPs were
increasing fees at this rate.
July
Some GPs suggested colleagues were not good on hand cleaning. Only
19 per cent said GP colleagues were excellent at hand hygiene; 42.2
per cent said hand hygiene was only average.
August
GPs did not expect more patients turning up with depression during
the Rugby World Cup. As some suggested the outcome for New Zealand
might affect the numbers, they would be grateful for the All Black
victory in October.
September
Most Auckland GPs were happy with new after-hours arrangements for
the region and 64.2 per cent were confident they would receive
information about their patients' attendance at after-hours
clinics.
October
Forty per cent of GPs favoured Tony Ryall to continue as health
minister. Mr Ryall's support had doubled compared with a faxpoll in
the previous election year, 2008.
November
Locum rates were $111-$140, said a quarter of the GPs who
completed a survey. Only 28 per cent said after-hours cover would
be provided by their practice over Christmas and New Year. PHOs or
Auckland HML telephone triage will provide cover for 22 per cent
while the majority says cover will come from somewhere else.
GPs had no idea how much cash PHOs were holding, but 54 per cent
wanted more say in how their PHO spends its money.
December
The majority of GPs receive more than $151,000 per annum and work
more than 41 hours in an average week. About 60 per cent say they
are moderately satisfied with their level of remuneration while
11.7 per cent say they are "not at all" happy.