Health Minister Ayesha Verrall yesterday unveiled plans to support the health system over winter. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Doctors say they will still be slogging it out this winter, with a new government plan likely to make very little difference to overcrowding and huge waits.
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall yesterday laid out 24 steps to try to prevent overloaded hospitals and clinics and burnt-out doctors and nurses.
Those at the coalface said they appreciated the effort but doubted it would change enough in time for winter.
Senior emergency department doctor Kate Allan said emergency departments all over the country were extremely busy, with virtually no reprieve over summer.
Speaking in her role as Aotearoa chair of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, she said a lot of the problem was because patients got stuck in ED waiting for a bed to become free in the crowded hospitals.
The ideas in the plan were all good but would take time to implement, she said.
"I don't know how much impact they're going to have on our problem of bed block in the emergency department and that means our departments will remain over crowded," he said.
Many of the initiatives aim to divert people from hospital - making more use of GP clinics and pharmacists as well as expanding telehealth services
The Fono chief executive Tevita Funaki heads a group of clinics in Auckland and is already bracing for the winter.
"I think it's going to be a slog," he said.
Even now, there were waits up to two weeks in the clinics - and many others in the city.
They were understaffed and already under the pump but, under the plan, would be expected to take on more of the winter load.
"Primary care will pivot but I'm not confident we will have a big impact in terms of reducing admissions to hospital."
Many of the initiatives already existed - like boosting vaccinations and recruiting more nurses.
Some were being expanded - including giving ED patients vouchers to attend a private afterhours clinic instead.
Tāmaki Health runs the White Cross urgent care and chief executive Lloyd McCann said three or four more of its clinics would take part in the scheme this winter in central Auckland.
He agreed there were some good ideas in the plan - some of them long established - but it had its limitations.
"This plan isn't the silver bullet that will make sure everything runs smoothly this winter," he said.
The Rural Health Network chair and Coromandel GP Fiona Bolden said the plan seemed to be aimed at tiding the system over but some of the long-term problems with the system would still need to be sorted out.
All the ideas needed workers to carry them out but there was a staff massive shortage, especially in rural areas, she said.
The increased use of telehealth would be good for rural communities if the services had a good local knowledge and understanding, she said.
All of those spoken to by RNZ said everyone could help the health system this winter - by making sure they were up to date with all their vaccinations.
'Pharmacy tell us they're ready'
Te Whatu Ora national clinical director for commissioning, Dr Allan Moffitt, said the plan was comprehensive and would help both hospitals and primary care providers.
He told Morning Report he believed GPs and primary care providers would be able to cope with the added pressure as the measures to reduce the number of people seeking hospital care were implemented.
"There's a range of things that the pharmacy are able to dispense for but it hasn't previously been funded" - Te Whatu Ora national clinical director for commissioning, Dr Allan Moffitt
"[The plan is] designed not to move demand from one area to another but to actually try and cope with it. Pharmacy tell us they're ready."
He said pharmacists would be able to offer consultations on minor ailments such as coughs and colds, skin lesions and sores and eye or urine infections.
"There's a range of things that the pharmacy are able to dispense for but it hasn't previously been funded."
Moffitt said measures to boost funding for additional after-hours care services for communities were still being developed but existing urgent care clinics would be funded to stay open longer.
"Many of them, after Covid, have wound back their hours; we will fund them to remain open for longer."