GPs say Labour's policy could incentivise more face to face care for communities. Photo: 123RF
GPs react to Labour’s loan scheme announcement
Labour's new GP loan proposal is being regarded as a step in the right direction by General Practitioners who feel a change in the system is long overdue.
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, Dr Luke Bradford told Morning Report that while the policy is not a game changer, it is a positive step to recognising the importance of doctor owned general practices.
"It definitely makes sense and it's an acknowledgement along with a number of their other policies that general practice is needing support to attract doctors and is important in keeping people healthy."
The Labour Party announced on Sunday a policy that would offer doctors and nurse practitioners low-interest loans to set up new practices or buy into existing ones, if elected next year.
The loans would only be available for owner-operated general practices, with corporate-owned clinics excluded.
Dr Bradford highlighted the increased uncertainty over the last few years around the business model which had made people more anxious about taking on large quantities of debt and setting up a practice.
"Successive governments haven't particularly backed it.," he said.
"There's now a lot of interest and a lot of realisation that's its vital to a functioning health system."
The policy was also seen as a way to promote doctor owned practices as corporate ownership had increased.
Dr Bradford said this was important as optimal patient care came from continuity and relationship building, something that was not as prominent in the corporate model.
"Often they'll be part of a multidisciplinary team or telehealth models or there may not be doctors available in your clinic,"
"So we know that doctor owned practices do have that time with patients, that longitudinal care because they've invested in it, they're staying in the business."
General Practice Owners Association (GenPro) chair Dr Angus Chambers said on Sunday the policy addressed the growing threat to patients, as individual general practices struggle to compete with large corporate businesses.
"These commitments recognise that general practice - and the face-to-face care that it provides to communities - is not just another part of the health system. It is the part that keeps people well and relieves pressure on hospitals."
Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall told Morning Report that although many corporate owned practices provide good care there were instances where priority was not given to community needs.
New Labour policy will loan money to GPs to start practice
She used an example in Lower Hutt where the practice gave up on doing face to face consultations becasue they had taken all the funding that comes with enrolling a large patient population and then not hired the doctors to support that.
"That is possible in our current system, and we don't want to incentivise it any further...I would certainly look at the accountability for how much a practice is servicing a population because that does seem wrong to me."
Prime Minister and National leader Christopher Luxon said Labour's proposal is "a bit confused" and doesn't address the real workforce shortage in the sector.
Luxon told Morning Report the real problem facing the sector was not the number of clinics, but getting more doctors.
"That's what we've been focused on", he said, pointing to National's plan to support a new medical school at the University of Waikato, adding 120 training places per year from 2028, in addition to 100 extra spots at the universities of Auckland and Otago over this term.
However, Verrall said the policy would encourage more GP graduates as numbers decline.
"For a long time we've had a commitment to train 300 general practice trainees a year and yet those spots haven't been filled," Verrall said.
"I hear from the general practice community that the career needs to be more attractive, and this is one of the barriers that we can remove."
Dr Bradford said there were still steps that needed to be taken in order to improve conditions and allow more young doctors to choose general practice.
"We've got to make sure that all work is recognised, at the moment all the sort of administrative work doesn't get paid as a rule," he said.
"There's currently at least a $100,000 difference between a graduate going into general practice and staying in hospital medicine per year in terms of earnings and we need to do something to close that gap."
This was especially important as Labour proposed a capital gains tax policy last month which included three free doctor visits.
Verrall said the policies align, giving more incentive for doctors to open their own clinics while also making GP visits accessible.
"This is part of a set of policies that Labour has that will support our three free GP visits which will be a vast improvement."
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