Photo: Davina Zimmer
A 70-year-old Waiheke Island resident with a ruptured ear-drum is frustrated that despite five visits to her local GP, she was unable to see a doctor in person.
Like many other parts of New Zealand, Waiheke Island is facing a shortage of doctors, and access to healthcare has seen a further blow after the abrupt closure of the island's only after hours clinic last Friday.
The resident, who only wants to be known as Alison, started to experience a blocked ear in the middle of August.
She visited the Ostend Medical Centre and was assured by a nurse there was no issue, other than a "dusty" left air drum.
A few days later, her left ear became fully infected, but there was no doctor at the clinic. She saw a nurse, who had to liaise with an off-site doctor to get her a prescription for antibiotics.
She was given liquid antibiotics which she said gave her a burning sensation when she applied it, and she was later prescribed oral antibiotics.
The Oranga Urgent After Hours clinic was based in the Waiheke Medical Centre, but shut down abruptly last week. Photo: Google Maps
At one point, her ear-drum ruptured, and three weeks on her ear is still weeping fluid.
Alison said she was frustrated that there appeared to be no doctor at the clinic the five times she visited to seek treatment for her ear.
"I certainly felt it was something a doctor needed to see, and you know they talked about phone consultations, but I think with an ear infection, I don't see how you can actually investigate an ear infection by a phone consultation easily," she said.
A phone consultation was the closest Alison got to a doctor, but only more antibiotics were prescribed.
Alison has spent in total $185 across the appointments.
She said it was hard to have confidence in the service she has been provided.
"I don't feel as if I've got somebody I can go to for knowledgeable medical help, I mean obviously the people I have seen have all been very good, but I still believe I would've felt far more comfortable seeing a doctor," she said.
Alison, who lives alone, said the lack of reliable healthcare on the island was worrying.
"It leaves me anxious and without confidence that I've actually got a medical access on the island," she said.
Alison said that's been compounded by the recent closure of the only after hours care on the island - the Waiheke Oranga Urgent After Hours clinic.
While one of the entities previously involved in running the after-hours clinic has announced it will be launching a new after hours service, details remain unconfirmed.
The Waiheke Health Trust, which runs the Ostend Medical Centre, said it was struggling to recruit doctors.
Trust chief executive Jen Glover said it currently had one doctor on-site three days a week, a nurse practitioner four days a week, and a doctor who could provide telehealth consultations.
Glover said they had been actively recruiting for a GP and a nurse practitioner for over a year, and had no New Zealand-trained applicants.
She said recruitment was made harder by the high cost of living and renting on Waiheke.
The three international doctors who had applied ultimately made the decision to work in the South Island instead, "where they could live more reasonably".
Glover said they were trying their utmost to provide the best care possible.
"As is the case with many practices across the country, we are facing funding challenges and workforce shortages and work really hard to deliver excellent care to our community despite these challenges," she said.
Glover said the Ostend Medical Centre currently uses telehealth GPs on two mornings a week for early morning appointments, and also throughout Fridays.
She said patients are given a choice of a phone or video consultation from home, or they are invited to the clinic for a consult by a nurse of health care assistant using a virtual care technology - the TytoCare platform.
The technology allows GPs to see the patient's ears and throat, and monitor vital signs remotely.
Glover said the Ostend Medical Centre will have a new GP starting in December who will be on site four days a week.
Another GP who currently provides telehealth care from the UK will be returning to Waiheke in January, and will be on-site three days a week, she said.