Patients at High Street Health Hub are being offered telehealth and video consultations instead of in-person appointments. Photo: 123rf
A critically short-staffed GP practice in Lower Hutt has had to stop doing face-to-face consultations, except in urgent cases.
Desperate patients from High Street Health Hub say they have been unable to enrol elsewhere as other local practices have closed their books.
One told RNZ she phoned the clinic in mid-February to see a doctor, on her midwife's recommendation.
"The earliest appointment they could give me was for 16 April. By the time that appointment came around they changed the time by three hours and I wasn't able to reschedule my work commitments. So then the earliest appointment they could give me was the start of June."
As that would have been past her due date, she went to Wellington's After Hours Medical Centre instead, but was sent to the emergency department.
"I spent from 9am to 7pm at ED, eight months pregnant, for something that didn't need to be using ED resources if I had been able to see a GP earlier and get it sorted."
Lower Hutt GP clinic suspends face-to-face appointments as staff resign
With that experience in mind, she tried to book her baby's six-week check-up and vaccinations before the birth - but was told there were no nurses to do that.
"Last Tuesday they ran an immunisation clinic with public health nurses from Te Whatu Ora because they do not have any nurses who can administer immunisations.
"I was there for a couple of hours and there were at least 20 parents and associated babies and toddlers all desperate to get their children caught up on their immunisations."
In an email to High Street Health Hub's estimated 9000 patients last week, the practice manager assured them that the hub was not closing.
"Unfortunately, we still have very limited clinical staff available onsite, but rest assured we are working hard to have a full GP and nursing team at High Street Health Hub again.
"In the meantime, we have had to change how we work. We have a fantastic team of GPs who can help you virtually and give you the same excellent level of service."
The practice's only GP is based at another clinic in Silverstream, 20 minutes' drive away, but patients were asked not to call there directly due to the "different patient management system".
High Street Health Hub patients were instead being offered telehealth and video consultations.
High Street Health Hub in Lower Hutt. Photo: Supplied/Google Maps
Those requiring urgent care would get a call back from a GP "within 24 to 48 hours" to advise whether their condition required them to be seen in person.
Frustrated patients have taken to social media to complain about waiting on hold for hours to get an appointment.
One wrote it "feels third world but at this point it's more like the Wild West".
That person questioned how the practice could triage who needed to be seen when "they don't answer the phone".
They described paying $68 for a telehealth consultation, only to be told to go to the after-hours clinic anyway, and pay another $100.
The mother of the newborn told RNZ she switched practices a few years ago after her previous clinic lost all its doctors. She could not find any other GP taking on new patients.
"There is no basic healthcare available, it's actually terrifying. It's not an issue for me to use telehealth but when you have very young children, they actually won't be able to prescribe you something on telehealth, they need to see your kids in person."
Green Cross, which owns High Street Health Hub, said like many other clinics it was hit by workforce issues.
While it was recruiting staff, the clinical team from another practice was supporting its High Street GP.
"This allows patients who need an in-person consultation to have one.
"We have had to change how we work while we recruit healthcare providers to the practice to provide full services again.
"This is in part, due to the GP shortage, which is a nationwide problem."
Primary care across Hutt Valley have been under increasing pressure in recent years, with patients from another practice directed to Wellington's After Hours Medical Centre at one point after locum GPs refused to do extra shifts at Lower Hutt's urgent care clinic.
General Practice New Zealand chair Dr Bryan Betty said the problems were not unique to Hutt Valley.
"This is reflective of general practice and general practitioner shortages through the country which have been developing over the last decade, and we're reaching the point where it's directly affecting patients' access to medical care in the community."
Health New Zealand planned to increase the number of GPs trained each year to 300 by 2026 and was working to support more GP registrars in practices, he said.
"Health Minister Shane Reti has also signalled his intention to address underlying financial problems in next year's Budget."
According to a briefing to the minister in January by Te Whatu Ora, New Zealand is currently short 485 GPs, with the gap to grow to between between 753 and 1043 doctors in the next decade.