Another year, another annual increase offer rejected for failing to recognise the ever-growing crisis in general practice. How did we get to this “boiling frog” moment? Fiona Cassie looks at the past and future of general practice contract negotiations
A fair and reasonable 40-hour week for a ‘full-time’ GP – without unpaid catch-up work – would have just 22 hours of patient contact time, the RNZCGP workload research has found
Recent UK surveys showing GPs are struggling to find work is resulting in a steady interest rather than a surge of applications to work in New Zealand, according to local recruiters
The four-year rollout of health improvement practitioners and health coaches to general practices is being extended for a fifth year to reach the target of 70 per cent coverage nationwide
Alexandra’s largest general practice has jumped in and self-funded a new seven-day urgent-care service to coincide with shifting to a new purpose-built health centre this month
Regulation of physician associates is a step closer, with the health minister okaying the drawing up of a proposal to take to Cabinet, probably before the end of the year
A new threshold for how much practices can raise patient fees and allowing Very Low Cost Access practices to charge some patients more are some of the minor tweaks in Te Whatu Ora’s final capitation offer
Rural practices want a short-lived scheme offering relocation funding incentives to overseas GPs to continue, so struggling practices can compete in the global market
