April 2, 2025 • 16 mins
Our primary healthcare system stands at a critical juncture - at least, that’s the latest from the New Zealand Initiative.
The think tank has released a review this morning, into the country’s primary care system.
It argues that the “current system faces mounting pressures that threaten its sustainability and effectiveness”.
So with the vital role GPs play in our every day healthcare, what are the challenges facing our family doctors?
Today on The Front Page, NZI research fellow, Dr Prabani Wood joins us to dive into another part of our health system in crisis.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Richard Martin
Producer: Ethan Sills
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kyota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Our
primary healthcare system stands at a critical juncture. At least,
that's the latest from the New Zealand Initiative. The think
(00:25):
tank has released a review this morning into the country's
primary care system. It argues that the current system faces
mounting pressures that threaten its sustainability and effectiveness. So, with
the vital role that gps play in our everyday healthcare,
what are the challenges facing our family doctors today? On
(00:47):
the front Page ends a research fellow doctor Prabani Wood
joins us to dive into another part of our health
system in crisis. Can we start with a bit of
your background, Brabani and how you came to become a GP.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So, yes, I did my medical school training in Oxford
and then moved to New Zealand twenty years ago now
with my husband who's also a doctor, and I've been
a GP in New Zealand now for just over.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Fifteen years now.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
My path into general practice was convoluted, and I think
a lot of that is due to the fact that
general practice is still undervalued even.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Within our own medical profession.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We don't get much exposure to it as medical students,
and there's still a few people in hospital medicine that
probably looked down on it. So I did quite a
few years of work in hospital specialties before deciding to
(01:58):
make the move into and we care, and I'm glad
I did. It's the best career I really do think
going in medicine, but it's also probably the hardest.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
What is the role at the moment of a specialist
GP in primary care?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So I think it's important and to use that term
specialist GP to begin with. You know, we are specialists
in that we undergo the same and rigorous postgraduate training
that all medical specialists do. We sit exams and we
are accredited by our college, the Royal New Zealand College
(02:35):
of GPS.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
As specialist GPS.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
We really need to know a lot about everything that
could possibly go wrong with a person, both in terms
of physical health and mental and emotional health. So we
are there to diagnose, investigate, treat and manage conditions. We're
also there to work out when we need to investigate
(02:59):
the further and refer on to our hospital colleagues. And
we're also there to prevent things from happening, you know,
picking up diseases early and preventing them from getting established.
So therefore you're trying to keep our patients healthy and
this overall saves the health system money. It makes sense,
right if you're picking up things early.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And I guess that's why it's so important to have
a regular GP that you have that relationship with, because
they can pick up on those tiny nuances.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I gets one hundred percent, and I think that's what
we're forgetting to talk about and acknowledge.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
General practice isn't general practice without that continuity of care.
I don't think I can stress that enough. What we
do as specialist GPS is.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Very, very broad.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
We've got to have a high level of expertise and
a very broad scope. You know, a study has shown
that general practice is the most complex specialty in medicine
based on how much you need to know and how
little time you have with each patient. It's it's very
broad and you have to keep applying your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Keep up to date with new medicines and new treatments.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
But you're always then applying that knowledge to the patient
in front of you, and you're following them through their
life course. So you're adapting your knowledge to each patient
that you see, and that's how you get those efficiencies.
Exactly as you said, you know, if you know you
as a GP, know your patient, and especially in the
context of a chronic health issue, every time you see them,
(04:29):
you don't have to start from scratch. Patients really appreciate
that it must be so frustrating to have to keep
telling your story over and over again each time, and
you can get right to the nitty gritty much more
quickly and pick up on things and subtle changes much
more readily.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
What are the critical issues facing the sector at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It all comes down to a lack of funding and
recognition of the importance of the work do. The sector's
been under this funding pressure for many, many years, so
the critical ways that's manifesting are a major issue. With
workforce attrition, more and more gps are leaving. We've known
(05:14):
about a large section of our workforce being coming up
to retirement. We've known about that for a long time.
About forty five percent of gps had acknowledged that.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
They would wish to retire within the next ten years.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But there are also mid career gps that are leaving
simply because the terms and conditions under which we are
working as gps are getting worse, and we're seeing more
fragmented roles as well, so as more roles in telehealth
come up, or roles in urgent care, for instance, so
people are leaving traditional GP roles for those instead.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Every single dollar must still have a bit outcomes for patients.
More money going in must mean more results coming out.
But under Labor we saw more money and worse outcomes,
longer wait lists and declining service levels, which is simply unacceptable.
Since being in office, this government has been taking action
and we're getting results. We've reinstated health targets because what
(06:20):
gets measured gets done. We're doing more operations. Last year,
the health system carried out of one hundred and forty
four thousand elected procedures, ten thousand more than the previous
twelve months. We're moving resources back to the front line,
cutting wasteful bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
What needs to happen to the current funding model? What
should be done to kind of fix it to make
sure that those gps stay where they are in, stay put,
and encourage new gps to train into the specialist area.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
There's quite a few things, but fundamentally, first of all,
in theory, the computation model makes sense, you know, having
some payment to have a patient enrolled under your practice,
but the model needs to reflect the needs of each
patient more readily, so to take into account chronic health issues,
(07:12):
for example, which aren't funded properly. So the funding needs
to reflect the needs of the patients that we're looking after.
That's first and foremost, so then we're able to actually
give the care to our patients that they need and deserve. Secondly,
in terms of what's happening with our workforce as GPS,
(07:33):
in general, your job is sized according to how much
time you're spending seeing patients. It doesn't really take into
account the amounts of time you spend doing vital, non
patient facing work.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And the amount of.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That work has really increased, I've noticed it over the
last few years. So in general, a recent survey by
our college showed that for every four and a half
hours and seeing patients, we generate around three and a
half hours of non patient for facing time, and that's
for following up on investigations you might have ordered, sending
(08:11):
referrals and following up on referrals. So it's all vital,
vital work, but in general that's not funded, and if
you're a GP owner, you would generally have to fund
your employees to carry out that work, but then the
practice loses money for it. So we've got to change that,
and we've got to acknowledge the vital non patient work
(08:31):
and pectation work that we do and also support gps
with their training costs, their ongoing professional development. Just as
the hospital specialists are funded, it would be nice to
have a similar setup for gps as well, so that
in itself would make the career more attractive for people
training to become doctors. And then finally, it's increasing exposure
(08:55):
for medical students into general practice. I mean, I know
when I was training, I probably spent less than ten
percent of my time in general practice, and I think
that's true for New Zealand trainees too. So getting medical
students exposed and spending a good amount of time working
in general practice would encourage more people to come into
(09:18):
the amazing profession.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Right So, at the moment, just the face to face
patient time is funded and all of that extra work
isn't funded. I mean, that doesn't seem to make sense.
And also you said training in hospitals is funded, but
extra training as GPS isn't funded.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
No, we have to fund it ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it's just the way it's the way it's been
in New Zealand for some time. I think because as
GPS and GP practice are their own small businesses, so
all your costs have to come out of your own pocket.
The hospital specialists are under a specific collective agreement through
(10:01):
the union.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Essentially that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Allows them to have some funding for their own professional
development for instance, because.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Obviously it's important.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, you go to medical school, you do your
postgraduate training and get your qualifications, but it doesn't stop there.
You're always learning and we've always got to update ourselves
and that costs money.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I read in a report that in Northland alone, preventable
hospital visits cost over two point seven million dollars a year,
with more than five thousand emergency visits that could have
been avoided with early local doctor care. So should we
get better at saving and redistributing that funding. It seems
to me like that funding can then go towards GPS
(10:52):
and those non face to face contact hours.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Absolutely, I think, you know, I'd love to get stuck
in and look in more detail into alternative funding models.
I have to do that in the future, but it
makes logical sense to me that any money that's saved
by general practice from patients not having to attend the
emergency department, that saving could.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Then be fed back into a primary care.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So we're not asking for new money, but we're asking
for the money that we're saving to come.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Back back to us.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that would absolutely make sense to look at things
like that in that way.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And the cost of going to see a GP is
out of reach for a lot of keyways. Some might
have thought that telehealth appointments might be cheaper alternative, but
it costs around the same regardless of how long your
appointment is or what form. What do you make of that?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, the only way.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
You can incentivize is by reducing the cost right for
the patient.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
You know, when gps haven't been.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Funded well enough to be able to afford to give
the care to the patients that they need to provide,
they've had no alternative but to increase the fee that
they charge their patients.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
And it's awful you're in that position.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And yes, it means many patients aren't able to afford
to go and see their GP. So it's only by
funding gps appropriately so they don't have to charge the
patients as much that you can incentivize the patients to
go and see their GP, and then you know, valuing
that continuity of care. So that could be a specific
(12:25):
target if we're looking at targets. So seeing how well
we established relationships with our patients is another way to
encourage people to go and see their GP.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
GP's books are full in many parts of the country,
Waiting time to see a GP are unacceptably long in
many places, and the failure of primary health care to
meet the basic needs of people is one of the
if not the most important factors leading to pressure on EDS.
(13:00):
Because what do you or I do when we can't
get to see our doctor and we're worried about our health.
We go to the ED. That is all we can do.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
And your report talks about the issues with aging it infrastructure.
Our inzed i've seen has reported this week that health
end Z is pausing one hundred and thirty six digital projects.
But do you want to see more investment being made
in modernizing our health sector?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely, it's long overdue.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I think there are moves to do this, but we
can't work in a system where we don't have access
in real time to vital information for our patients. You know,
as I mentioned in my report, as a patient, you'd
expect that if you moved to a different parts of
(13:52):
the country for work and you were lucky enough to
be able to enroll with a new GP, that your
notes would get through and come through easily to your
new but that's often not the case. If you went
to a physiotherapist for an injury and that was lodged
through ACC, you would expect that your GP would get
those that information and the ACC number, but that's not
(14:15):
the case. There's simple things that could be done whereby
information is more readily shared, both within primary care but
also between primary care and the hospital. Often hospital IT
systems don't talk to each other, so hospitals in different
regions their IT systems don't talk to each other, and
(14:36):
then also then don't talk to you primary care. We've
got some shared electronic records in different parts of the country,
but there's not one uniform record.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yet and PRA Bannie, if you could talk directly to
Health Minister Simeon Brown, what is the one thing you'd
like to get him started on tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
First of all, his announcements of increasing some funding to
primary care is great. It's a great start, but I
would love for a real focus on reorientating our health
system around the foundation of good, well funded, well resourced
(15:13):
primary care. So build our health system around that and
a bottom up approach rather than the top down approach
which is hospital first and then primary care is kind
of as an after thought. We are the backbone of
the health system. So despite the issues that I've talked
about with our workforce and lack of funding, we're still
(15:35):
in primary care. In general practice are seeing twenty one million.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Plus patients a year. But the more and more stretched.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
We are, the more pressure then gets put back into
the hospital system, and the only way to relieve the
hospitals is to improve the funding and resourcing of primary care.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Thanks for joining us, Probanni, thank.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
You, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzedherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
a sound engineer.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Subscribe to the front page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look
behind the headlines.
Kyota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Our
primary healthcare system stands at a critical juncture. At least,
that's the latest from the New Zealand Initiative. The think
(00:25):
tank has released a review this morning into the country's
primary care system. It argues that the current system faces
mounting pressures that threaten its sustainability and effectiveness. So, with
the vital role that gps play in our everyday healthcare,
what are the challenges facing our family doctors today? On
(00:47):
the front Page ends a research fellow doctor Prabani Wood
joins us to dive into another part of our health
system in crisis. Can we start with a bit of
your background, Brabani and how you came to become a GP.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
So, yes, I did my medical school training in Oxford
and then moved to New Zealand twenty years ago now
with my husband who's also a doctor, and I've been
a GP in New Zealand now for just over.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Fifteen years now.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
My path into general practice was convoluted, and I think
a lot of that is due to the fact that
general practice is still undervalued even.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Within our own medical profession.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
We don't get much exposure to it as medical students,
and there's still a few people in hospital medicine that
probably looked down on it. So I did quite a
few years of work in hospital specialties before deciding to
(01:58):
make the move into and we care, and I'm glad
I did. It's the best career I really do think
going in medicine, but it's also probably the hardest.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
What is the role at the moment of a specialist
GP in primary care?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So I think it's important and to use that term
specialist GP to begin with. You know, we are specialists
in that we undergo the same and rigorous postgraduate training
that all medical specialists do. We sit exams and we
are accredited by our college, the Royal New Zealand College
(02:35):
of GPS.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
As specialist GPS.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
We really need to know a lot about everything that
could possibly go wrong with a person, both in terms
of physical health and mental and emotional health. So we
are there to diagnose, investigate, treat and manage conditions. We're
also there to work out when we need to investigate
(02:59):
the further and refer on to our hospital colleagues. And
we're also there to prevent things from happening, you know,
picking up diseases early and preventing them from getting established.
So therefore you're trying to keep our patients healthy and
this overall saves the health system money. It makes sense,
right if you're picking up things early.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And I guess that's why it's so important to have
a regular GP that you have that relationship with, because
they can pick up on those tiny nuances.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I gets one hundred percent, and I think that's what
we're forgetting to talk about and acknowledge.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
At the moment.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
General practice isn't general practice without that continuity of care.
I don't think I can stress that enough. What we
do as specialist GPS is.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Very, very broad.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
We've got to have a high level of expertise and
a very broad scope. You know, a study has shown
that general practice is the most complex specialty in medicine
based on how much you need to know and how
little time you have with each patient. It's it's very
broad and you have to keep applying your knowledge.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Keep up to date with new medicines and new treatments.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
But you're always then applying that knowledge to the patient
in front of you, and you're following them through their
life course. So you're adapting your knowledge to each patient
that you see, and that's how you get those efficiencies.
Exactly as you said, you know, if you know you
as a GP, know your patient, and especially in the
context of a chronic health issue, every time you see them,
(04:29):
you don't have to start from scratch. Patients really appreciate
that it must be so frustrating to have to keep
telling your story over and over again each time, and
you can get right to the nitty gritty much more
quickly and pick up on things and subtle changes much
more readily.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
What are the critical issues facing the sector at the moment.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It all comes down to a lack of funding and
recognition of the importance of the work do. The sector's
been under this funding pressure for many, many years, so
the critical ways that's manifesting are a major issue. With
workforce attrition, more and more gps are leaving. We've known
(05:14):
about a large section of our workforce being coming up
to retirement. We've known about that for a long time.
About forty five percent of gps had acknowledged that.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
They would wish to retire within the next ten years.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
But there are also mid career gps that are leaving
simply because the terms and conditions under which we are
working as gps are getting worse, and we're seeing more
fragmented roles as well, so as more roles in telehealth
come up, or roles in urgent care, for instance, so
people are leaving traditional GP roles for those instead.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Every single dollar must still have a bit outcomes for patients.
More money going in must mean more results coming out.
But under Labor we saw more money and worse outcomes,
longer wait lists and declining service levels, which is simply unacceptable.
Since being in office, this government has been taking action
and we're getting results. We've reinstated health targets because what
(06:20):
gets measured gets done. We're doing more operations. Last year,
the health system carried out of one hundred and forty
four thousand elected procedures, ten thousand more than the previous
twelve months. We're moving resources back to the front line,
cutting wasteful bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
What needs to happen to the current funding model? What
should be done to kind of fix it to make
sure that those gps stay where they are in, stay put,
and encourage new gps to train into the specialist area.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
There's quite a few things, but fundamentally, first of all,
in theory, the computation model makes sense, you know, having
some payment to have a patient enrolled under your practice,
but the model needs to reflect the needs of each
patient more readily, so to take into account chronic health issues,
(07:12):
for example, which aren't funded properly. So the funding needs
to reflect the needs of the patients that we're looking after.
That's first and foremost, so then we're able to actually
give the care to our patients that they need and deserve. Secondly,
in terms of what's happening with our workforce as GPS,
(07:33):
in general, your job is sized according to how much
time you're spending seeing patients. It doesn't really take into
account the amounts of time you spend doing vital, non
patient facing work.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And the amount of.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That work has really increased, I've noticed it over the
last few years. So in general, a recent survey by
our college showed that for every four and a half
hours and seeing patients, we generate around three and a
half hours of non patient for facing time, and that's
for following up on investigations you might have ordered, sending
(08:11):
referrals and following up on referrals. So it's all vital,
vital work, but in general that's not funded, and if
you're a GP owner, you would generally have to fund
your employees to carry out that work, but then the
practice loses money for it. So we've got to change that,
and we've got to acknowledge the vital non patient work
(08:31):
and pectation work that we do and also support gps
with their training costs, their ongoing professional development. Just as
the hospital specialists are funded, it would be nice to
have a similar setup for gps as well, so that
in itself would make the career more attractive for people
training to become doctors. And then finally, it's increasing exposure
(08:55):
for medical students into general practice. I mean, I know
when I was training, I probably spent less than ten
percent of my time in general practice, and I think
that's true for New Zealand trainees too. So getting medical
students exposed and spending a good amount of time working
in general practice would encourage more people to come into
(09:18):
the amazing profession.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Right So, at the moment, just the face to face
patient time is funded and all of that extra work
isn't funded. I mean, that doesn't seem to make sense.
And also you said training in hospitals is funded, but
extra training as GPS isn't funded.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
No, we have to fund it ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, it's just the way it's the way it's been
in New Zealand for some time. I think because as
GPS and GP practice are their own small businesses, so
all your costs have to come out of your own pocket.
The hospital specialists are under a specific collective agreement through
(10:01):
the union.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Essentially that.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Allows them to have some funding for their own professional
development for instance, because.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Obviously it's important.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You know, you go to medical school, you do your
postgraduate training and get your qualifications, but it doesn't stop there.
You're always learning and we've always got to update ourselves
and that costs money.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I read in a report that in Northland alone, preventable
hospital visits cost over two point seven million dollars a year,
with more than five thousand emergency visits that could have
been avoided with early local doctor care. So should we
get better at saving and redistributing that funding. It seems
to me like that funding can then go towards GPS
(10:52):
and those non face to face contact hours.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Absolutely, I think, you know, I'd love to get stuck
in and look in more detail into alternative funding models.
I have to do that in the future, but it
makes logical sense to me that any money that's saved
by general practice from patients not having to attend the
emergency department, that saving could.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Then be fed back into a primary care.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
So we're not asking for new money, but we're asking
for the money that we're saving to come.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Back back to us.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that would absolutely make sense to look at things
like that in that way.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And the cost of going to see a GP is
out of reach for a lot of keyways. Some might
have thought that telehealth appointments might be cheaper alternative, but
it costs around the same regardless of how long your
appointment is or what form. What do you make of that?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yes, the only way.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
You can incentivize is by reducing the cost right for
the patient.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
You know, when gps haven't been.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Funded well enough to be able to afford to give
the care to the patients that they need to provide,
they've had no alternative but to increase the fee that
they charge their patients.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
And it's awful you're in that position.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
And yes, it means many patients aren't able to afford
to go and see their GP. So it's only by
funding gps appropriately so they don't have to charge the
patients as much that you can incentivize the patients to
go and see their GP, and then you know, valuing
that continuity of care. So that could be a specific
(12:25):
target if we're looking at targets. So seeing how well
we established relationships with our patients is another way to
encourage people to go and see their GP.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
GP's books are full in many parts of the country,
Waiting time to see a GP are unacceptably long in
many places, and the failure of primary health care to
meet the basic needs of people is one of the
if not the most important factors leading to pressure on EDS.
(13:00):
Because what do you or I do when we can't
get to see our doctor and we're worried about our health.
We go to the ED. That is all we can do.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
And your report talks about the issues with aging it infrastructure.
Our inzed i've seen has reported this week that health
end Z is pausing one hundred and thirty six digital projects.
But do you want to see more investment being made
in modernizing our health sector?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Absolutely, it's long overdue.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
I think there are moves to do this, but we
can't work in a system where we don't have access
in real time to vital information for our patients. You know,
as I mentioned in my report, as a patient, you'd
expect that if you moved to a different parts of
(13:52):
the country for work and you were lucky enough to
be able to enroll with a new GP, that your
notes would get through and come through easily to your
new but that's often not the case. If you went
to a physiotherapist for an injury and that was lodged
through ACC, you would expect that your GP would get
those that information and the ACC number, but that's not
(14:15):
the case. There's simple things that could be done whereby
information is more readily shared, both within primary care but
also between primary care and the hospital. Often hospital IT
systems don't talk to each other, so hospitals in different
regions their IT systems don't talk to each other, and
(14:36):
then also then don't talk to you primary care. We've
got some shared electronic records in different parts of the country,
but there's not one uniform record.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yet and PRA Bannie, if you could talk directly to
Health Minister Simeon Brown, what is the one thing you'd
like to get him started on tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
First of all, his announcements of increasing some funding to
primary care is great. It's a great start, but I
would love for a real focus on reorientating our health
system around the foundation of good, well funded, well resourced
(15:13):
primary care. So build our health system around that and
a bottom up approach rather than the top down approach
which is hospital first and then primary care is kind
of as an after thought. We are the backbone of
the health system. So despite the issues that I've talked
about with our workforce and lack of funding, we're still
(15:35):
in primary care. In general practice are seeing twenty one million.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Plus patients a year. But the more and more stretched.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
We are, the more pressure then gets put back into
the hospital system, and the only way to relieve the
hospitals is to improve the funding and resourcing of primary care.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Thanks for joining us, Probanni, thank.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
You, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
at enzedherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
a sound engineer.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Subscribe to the front page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look
behind the headlines.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.