September 8, 2024 • 38 mins
With funding cuts and an increasing shortage of general practitioners, Dr John Cameron joins Tim Beveridge to help you look after your minor ailments and avoid the doctor's office.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk
s B and welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
To the Weekend Collective. By the way, thanks for all
your feedback to politics and the text and everything. Sorry
we didn't get to give the voice to all the
feedback there, but we very appreciate it. And you can
check that hour out any anywhere you will get your
podcast for the Weekend Collective start at iHeartRadio. Great starting place.
I'm Timberberish by the way, for just joined us, and
now it's time to move on to the health Hub.
We want your calls on eight hundred eighty ten eighty
(00:32):
in text on nine two nine two. And my guest, look,
he is is the word doyen of GPS? Is that
is that a weird?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I don't know. We're gonna forget that under the floor,
rolling on the floor, John Cameron, how are you mate?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Dr John?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
What does douyan mean?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Douan? My uncle was a doyen of New Zealand cricket.
He used the don the doy in he wrote for
the hero.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hang on, Well, okay, that is a pretty big it's
a big called the most respected or prominent person in
the particular field. A do anyway, how are you?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'm brilliant. I look, I put myself in lectric car
last but hold that thought.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Congratulations, you're a granddad.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Ah, first of our GROANND children arrived eleven three minutes
past eleven yesterday morning, weighing in at five pound five ounces,
four weeks early. Doing so well, Mum, Dad. The bub
without name is superb. So we're just over the moon,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's the ultimate piece of good news. You're just like
you must be over the moon.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I've run out of tissues. My eyes have been tearing.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Four hours, really soft. Anyway, hang on, you're talking about
something else before I cut you off so rudely.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, you're thinking about electric vehicles. I thought, you know
you're going to save money into all this. No, there's
another part to it. What I was I was down
fishing in Taupo last week, head of a week off work,
which is just brilliant catch anything. Absolutely So.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
He's fizzing at the you're fizzling at the butt today.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So pulling to do a tap and go and coming
back in and it's a guy in the car next
to me and he wasn't driving electric car. He's a
dog trainer, a sheep and cattle dog trainer from downtown Manui. Yeah,
an interesting man of the clubs. And we talked for
about half an hour while the car topped up. And
that's the whole thing about electric cars. It in visages
(02:25):
and invokes conversation with people. You would never do that
at the petrol station.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, you wouldn't have half an hour at no station.
You have three minutes.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But that's what I did, just half an hour channing
to this guy I've never seen before.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So it's a social thing. It's such a social thing.
Get an E E vehicle and while you're charging there,
you'll you'll have to be sociable because actually, you know
the thing I've noticed, and we're going to get onto
health by the way, No, no, no, no, but this
is this is all about good health, you know, hail fellow,
well met, But you can give us a call one
hundred and eighteen eighty that there would be people who
(02:58):
be charging those cars or just have their bloody air
air plugs in and listening to.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
No wrong sort of person. No, we're gregarious. Who are
all our ev owners. We're just brilliant people saving the planet,
saving the planet.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And insufferable anyway, Hey, look, a couple of things I
want to talk about. I'm I'm going to get an
update from you on a few first d AID issues because
but firstly, one of the news discussions has been about
the stress that primary healthcare is under and the simple
question about whether people is that the model of people
(03:32):
having your regular family GP who you can rely on,
you have a relationship with, you get to know, I
mean relationship within professional relationship obviously frowned upon otherwise is
that connection with your GP and having that sort of
is that on the way? Is that under threat at
the moment, because you know, it's hard to get to
see a doctor sometimes I think.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It's under threat, and that is a reflection of the
whole general practice workforce. The concept of having that cradle
to grave, that person that you can trust, I think
is really really important, that continuity of care. And when
I'm training students are aware something got their ars in
the chair today? What you know, why are they actually here?
And when we see our punters, it's not just that
(04:13):
person sitting in the chair, it's the whole far now
sitting in that year. And that's the thing which I
think we're going to miss if we get down to
incidental based care, disease based care, we're in trouble. But
I think we're in trouble about general practice as a whole.
It's been it's how do we improve our general practitioners.
So basically, we we've got about thirty eight percent of
(04:35):
our gps are overseas trained. They're not coming into the
country at the moment. Fifty one percent of full time,
thirty seven percent of general practice is due to retire
in the next five years, fifty five percent in the
next ten years with the current.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Every sorry, hang on, what fifty percent of gps years.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And they're not back for left from percent. We've had enough,
you know, we're getting over We're getting burnt out. Seventy
nine percent of gps are saying that they're burnt out
at the present time because of the demands on them
from the patients and from our healthcare. Actually, God, that
is a scary stit Now it gets scarier. Fifty seven
percent of our current gps are over fifty. In nineteen
(05:16):
ninety eight, twenty five percent of our gps were over fifty,
So we've got an aging general practice population.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Actually is part Now I don't want to be depressed
about this or depressive or or pessimistic, but if I
was to point to another problem that that suggests to
me is that one of the reasons you would be
in general practice is to have that very connection with
families and with your patients that give you a sense
of reward rather than just being the next cab off
(05:45):
the rank. Someone you've who's going to come and see
you'll never see them again. And it's that lack of
connection with communities is that which which means that the
job looks less appealing.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
To So how do we attract people into general practice
primary care?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I mean, what got you into it?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Because I loved it. I got into general practice because
my general practitioner drove a bright red etope and he
was a marvelous guy. He was Ollie Johnson, a brilliant guy.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Well there's the problem there. You're driving an EV.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So that was my role model. I saw this guy
and I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You want a car like that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Or I did.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was part of it was not as that's not
as sort of warm, fuzzy as I thought it was
going to be.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'd also like that job that that that involvement he
was my g pie since I came onto the planet
until I've went off to medical school. So how do
we attract people into general practice.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
In Actually, can I backtrack on there? And you said
that you liked his car? Okay? But what ultimately kept
you in general practice? What you got? I mean, you
have the the young man sort of like that looks cool,
and you have an idea about what it's like. But
when you got into it, what kept you there? And
what was you?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Know?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
People? People, It's all about people, and general practice I
think is one of the most challenging disciplines in medicine.
It's not like you don't Especialists learn more and more
about less and less until I know absolutely everything about nothing.
We learned less and less about more and more until
we leve a little about everything. And when that door
opens and someone walks into your room, you've got no idea.
It's a blank canvas about what's going to happen, and
(07:12):
you've got to be on your toes. You've got to
be thinking twenty four to seven about what's going on
because we're the front line.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
How often do people carr sorry, carrying on? How often
do people come in and they come to see you
about one thing, and then you sit there and you go, well, actually, okay,
they might be here because about something that's maybe some
symptom that's bothering them, but really they're here for another reason.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Ninety percent. Yeah, it is always that, Oh, while I'm here.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Doc, actually I think I might have done that myself.
It's like, but people who say, look, I've you know,
I've got a bit of a sniffle. And then, by
the way, here's another symptom I've been having. You're like, okay, right,
we'll drop the pants. We're going to do that examination
you were too embarrassed to ask for.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I get chest painting every time I go flood
the stairs. That sort of thing's always dropped in at
the end of the console. So that's fine. So how
do we attract people there? So I'm coming back to
this one. It's not just fun, but funding plays a
part of it. We've grossly underfunded our primary care teams
for years and years and years. Our fees are government controlled.
We cannot put our fees up. The amount that you
(08:15):
pay to go and see a general practice is probably
about a third of the actual cost of what you're
receiving and the government subsidizes the rest of it.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How does it work? So because some I mean some
gps do cost more than others, how's that working?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Because they're always higher, so we can.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Getting less funding?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No, no, no, no, get the same level. There's two
broad categories of funding right there. There's a thing called capitation,
and capitation pays a lump sum per individual within your practice.
There's a second grouping, which gets an increased funding per
patient if they meet more than fifty percent high needs
patients within their population. High needs is quintil five milori pacifica.
(08:55):
So if they've got even more stringent restrictions on how
much fees they can charge. So if you go to
when we where some people are charging eighty five dollars, right,
if you go somewhere else they might be charging fifty,
might be charging sixty dollars. If you go to a
low cost access practice nineteen dollars fifty.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And that will be because they are getting more government funding.
More government funding.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, but the government funding increases seriically each year according
to a CPI, and it just hasn't kept up with that.
Our costs have gone.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Sure, how much more funding do you think we need
for general practice?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's in the billions. Yeah, okay, And the problem is
if we lose our general practice primary care teams, our
secondary services will be completely swamped and cease to exist.
So we are probably the most cost effective. It's a
four to one investment. For every dollar you spend in primarykey,
you get a four dollars saving in health and nobody
actually realizes that. And we're being squeezed at the moment,
(09:50):
and squeeze so much that we're not going If you're
a general practitioner, I've been in practice for thirty odd years, right,
Senior GP. My colleagues in the hospital are being paid
by the government three times what I earn three times
and that's in public, not even in private.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And what are they doing? Are they in general practice?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
With them? I know they're they're the physicians within the hospital,
that's setup who are at the same level of specialty
and specialism. But they're three times on government funding.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Blimey.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So how do you attract people in so one of
the ways is by remunerating at that same level. But
because we're private companies, there's always been this hedge. But
we can't pay people for private stuff, and so we've
never actually achieved equity with our other colleagues.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
And I guess so they get paid and you you
might get paid. You're talking about that the funding that
private GPS receiver is about a third, but you can
still charge a bit on top.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That's income blummey. So how do we attract people in
so one thing that's leveling the playing field. We need
to get more people into general practice, obviously.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Because it seems also that a lot of GPS, even
the practice that I go to, there's a lot of
part time stuff going on. I mean partly because there
are some who've had families and female GPS you know,
have become mums and they come back and maybe that
are in two or three days. But I don't know
how many doctors at the practice I go to are
actually five days a week.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
So this is the other part what you're talking about
is when they're in the practice. Okay, so I'm doing
five tenths at the moment, five clinical sessions a week.
That's a half day. Now I'm doing another three to
four half days outside of the practice, just clearing the
paperwork that generated by those five.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Half days, and that you don't get paid for that.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And no, you don't get paid for that.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So when you see these radio and not part times,
if you were doing ten tenths, you're doing ten clinical sessions,
five full days a week, you would never get your
head above the water.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So if Shane Rettie was sitting here and you could
have a chat with him about it, obviously, I mean
the problem is that there's a lot of pressure on
the government person. Health is a massive, massive cost. So
what would you suggest? What would you be having a
chat with him about?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Shane? You need to change the healthcare paradigm in this country.
If you want to have a healthy population in this country,
you need to almost put that secondary care process on
hold and put the put the resources into the community
care that needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
How long would it take? So that's basically funding. That's money,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I don't know whether it's just funding, it's it's care pathways,
it's the ability to provide services in different ways. We've
got to if we keep doing what we're doing, we're
going to go backwards. We need to do something different
and I can't see that coming from And if you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Were a GP young GP okay you're a young med
school graduate. Now, I mean it's difficult to look back,
I guess because you've had a full career, You've had
all the rewards and the good sides of it and
the bad sides and all that. But what would you well, okay,
what would you be advising young doctors to do now
if you were wanting them to have a happy, prosperous, successful,
(13:01):
enjoyable career in medicine, the general practice, Oh, you would
tell them still to do that from I was leading
that in direction, you'd be like doing it.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
But because it was the most brilliant job out there, Yeah,
it is stunning, but not I'm not every man. And
if you're sitting there with a cold, hard light of
day with a big loans, big student loan, a mortgage
doing that, how can I get out of this whole quickly?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
General practice won't do that for you. So we need
to get the young kids, the young graduates into primary care.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Do do most I mean, do most practices still if
they see one member of the family, they will see
the whole member. Is it still? Is that still going on?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
That?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, family sort of family, one family, one GP
type of thing.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, like I was at the show in the town
Hall at Center last night and this guy was coming
down washing his hands like this, and he full of soap.
And his mother turned to me, seeing, oh, doctor John,
can you tell him to go back and wash his
hands properly. It was one of my patients who were
sitting there, and it was one of the families that
I wanted. He done wrong. He hadn't washed his hands,
probably came out covered and soap. It was quite funny.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
He hadn't rinsed his hands exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, but what a weird thing to do it. Okay,
but I knew the sun I knew then. So it's
family medicine. It's knowing the generations. You know, three four
generations of family coming through. It's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Anyway, Hey, look, you're welcome to add your say to
it that what do you think the government needs to
do to to reform what's going on in primary healthcare?
And actually, the scary I think the scariest stat you
told me was the fifty five percent they've got. I mean,
I think that's age wise, it's fifty five percent until
they're until are going to be hitting sixty five and
(14:37):
therefore leaving Wow, that is quite a scary stat actually,
just out of curiosity before we go to the break,
how many doctors actually retire at sixty five? Because I
got sal bugger all overall? Is that because they love
it or because they see the need? And I can't
really retire because what all my patients do without me?
Or a bit of everything?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yes and yes, and it's the job. What you like
and what you do is generally wind down, you wind
backwards a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh, I've got a good text for you, but guess
what I'm going to save it to after the bak.
It's a great question. But if you've got any other questions,
and I'm going to dig into because I went to
the pharmacy the other day because my daughter grazed her
knee and the choice of dressings did my head and
so I went for the most expensive one. Of course, anyway,
I might have a chat about first day. If you
(15:21):
have any questions for John Cameron, Doctor John Cameron, give
us a call. I went on undred eighty ten and
eighty twenty two past four Newstalk said, b that's welcome
back to the weekend collective. I'm loving the choice of
music for my producer today but more funny behind the scenes.
So she tells me each each artist, and I like, yes,
I do know Billy Joel, I do know Aba and
believe it, and I do no Toto which you know
(15:42):
the rains in Africa and all that. It's a classic,
isn't it. Anyway? This is a health hub. My guest
is doctor John Camra. We're talking about the start of
the health system and what we need to do to
make GPS more accessible. Are you have in trouble getting
in to see a GP, by the way, give us
a call. We have lots of texts on this and
we're going to get into it. Actually, the first text
I somebody sent in was I think this is an
(16:03):
interesting one. That's where we're going on this high. Do
you think some primary care can be managed by nurses
and allied health and pharmacists? And is there a role
for those other people within the health industry to take
the load off job. Yeah, they're going to have to
because practice nurses are quite that's quite a specialty too,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
A really big specialty, practice nursing team. I couldn't function
without my team.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I was about to say, how much do you love
your practice nursess.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, they are very very special people and a lot
of it is trained up within the practice and so
they get to know the patients, they get to know
how to manage things, and we are there to bounce
things off nurse practitioners, pharmacists, healthcare. Yeah, we need to
(16:49):
broaden it out. There still has to the one thing
that a lot of people not twardus. Diagnosis management fine,
and a lot of these things and doing the day
to day management of health concerns brilliant for that sort
of growth, but actually dissecting out what's going on within
that individual, that diagnostic process is very special part of
(17:10):
general practice. Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Actually I have to own to a little bit of
a shortcover I've taken. If I want to see the doctor,
and obviously haven't been at death's door, but it's something
I wanted to see someone about. I just say, can
I come and see your nurse? And I have a
chat with the nurse, and the nurse has a good
chat with me, takes all things, and she goes I
might just quickly next door and they ask the doctor
a quick question and BINGO done. Absolutely, No, that's fine,
that's actually I wonder if that's quite it. Is it
(17:34):
a good way for a practice to go perhaps that
having a triage system in place for because you do
have people no, no, no, no, I know you have no,
but I mean more use of that as opposed to
I ring up. I want to make an appointment to
see the doctor, and you will have patients who want
to see the GP, and you know, as soon as
you see their name on your computer, I know what
(17:55):
this is about. And there are people who do who
are heavily reliant on contact with their GP, not necessarily
for heavy medical issues, but for this. Yeah, a whole
lot of things.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Before COVID hit, I did a little survey within my
practice to try and work out how many punters really
needed to be seen face to face in any given
given day. It's about twenty percent. Eighty percent of it
could have been done some other way, either by phone
or nurse triage or some other way of providing that
individual with the healthcare that they needed. So that that
makes it better for the individual who's got the concern,
(18:29):
and it makes it better for me as a dock
that I'm concentrating down on the work that I really
have to do, makes my diet, makes my day, bloody horrible.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah, because we all want tough stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
No, I like to see people who aren't well. Oh,
if you're doing tough, tough, tough, tough tuff, you came
out right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
We have some doxsy cycling for you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Oh yeah, here's one. If you've got a cold and
you've got a cough, suck it up. It's going to
be six weeks as long as you don't have a fever,
shortness of breath, coughing up blood, pinpoint pain in your chest,
or drenching night sweats you've got a cough. Antibodys will
not help that unless you're an old crud smoker.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Can we just also put that this is my favorite one.
And look it's weak. We're heading too spring, so hopefully
it's less common. But you know when you get people
and win turned there, they're sniffing a little bit and
they say and they go, oh, i've got the flu.
And my answer is do you feel like living? And
they go yeah, It's like, well, you've just got a cold.
The flu is really.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Sorry, it's not the flu. It is influenza A okay,
thank you, right, people called about flu, It's not it's
a distinct disease influenza.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
A and it's not very nice, a horrendous. Where are
we at with COVID, by the way, just in terms
of serious reactions and otherwise.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Still there, they're stilling around. It's still killing people. Omicron
is still the main strain we've got. Yes, please, if
you're in any of the at risk groups, get your
six monthly top up vexing. It's the easiest way of
giving you the best chance of not ending up on
hospital or dying.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Good advice. A lot of text people are are we
happy to call in? If you want to get to
the front of the que and you've got a question
just about your own health, you can have a chat
with John Cameron and person first and first serve. But
a lot of texts today, so let's go. How about
this is a suggestion just on encouraging younger people in
the professional I guess should the government forego student loans
(20:18):
then return for bonding people to either GPS or staying
in New Zealand and all that great idea. I'm big
on that, I think, because why would you train someone
up through our system and then they just go overseas.
It's like, tell you what here's a rebate on your
student fees at this rate the longer you stay in
New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I'm not sure that a new medical school is going
to do it, and that there is a there's a
catch point which people don't realize, which is once you
come out from your medical degree, you must do a
one year hospital stint to become registered. We're full. Those
registrations are actually full with the number of graduates I've
already got.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Is it possible for a GP to set up a
private clinic in a wealthy area where there's no government
funding and just basically people pay full price for consultations.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You could, but you'd be dead within a week.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, because who would come to I guess you could say, well,
I'm expensive, but I'm available, because I.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Think two hundred and seventy dollars for a fifteen minute
appointment where.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
You go, okay, okay, right next next, Please a question
for the doctor. Please, that's good. I'm a sixty nine
year old female. I'm under investigator from my heart. I
was told my clinic appointment by the registry that I'd
be hooked up to a Halter heart monitor at home
for forty eight hours I've received my appointment for this,
but it says for twenty four hours. Is this long
(21:35):
enough as others I've tooked to a set? It has
to be forty eight seventy two hour suggestions please, thanks Catherine.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's going to be fine. Depends on the resource and
the availability the whole to monitor. So Holter is looking
for a strange art rhythm when you hook you up,
We've got to hope that it happens sometime within that timeframe.
So of course the longer the time frame, the more
likely you are to catch it. So that's the catch
twenty again.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It hi my daughters at medical school at the moment,
Why should she be a GP. From what it sounds like,
you're not rewarded financially enough to make it worth your
while and all end up being overworked.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's exactly that's what we're trying to fight and find
a way around that. You do it because of the job.
It's the most brilliant job. I'd hate to be a
proctologist because you're going to see are assholes. At least
I see some each day, but I see lots of
other stuff. So the more fine you get right, the
(22:23):
more you get brought into that one little bit whereas
we see the breadth of human life, and that's where
the beauty of general.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It does actually remind me of a story of a
friend of mine who was getting a rectal examination, and
of course it's all done by touch, but he said
that the specialist was staring up in the ceiling or
something or over in the distance, and my friend looked
at him and says, what are you looking at? And
he said, where do you want me to look? It's
not all done by feel.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Absolutely, take your eyes out of it. You've either got
your eyes closed or you're looking somewhere else. When doing that,
you're trying to concentrate everything down.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Here's another one hide there. How who exactly pays GPS?
Is it like teachers are paid by the government through schools,
or is that there is a limit on how much
practices paid doctors? I guess I think the practice would
get the money and then you would top it up
with the fees that you were receiving and the income
and all that blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, So so it depends on the practice entity. So
basically the government will pay per head of population a
certain amount, whether you're a five year old, a fifteen
year old, a thirty eight year old Buddy Baba, without
a lot of extra mucking around with quintiles and with diseases.
It doesn't do that. Then you've got what the patients
paid the practice, and the practice will pay out on
(23:32):
that normally on an hourly rate for a non practice owner.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Okay, can you ask doctor John and said, were getting
political here. We've got to buy a bit of politics,
get into the politics a can you ask doctor John
whether it's time to get rid of Plunket and give
that money to the GP practices. Ever since National Plunkett
got rid of their volunteers throughout the country in twenty
sixteen to charge of their resources. One here is very
little about the organization. What do you think, Benny, No,
(23:58):
it should be.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Ramped up the resources. I remember Whigden to Calfeter and
every third day we had a lunch where we had
the Plunket nurse, the district nurse, the GPS, the pharmacist
and we sat around and talked about what was happening
in our community. And if you've got that trust relationship
with your local provider of healthcare to babies. Fine, and
lock them into a primary care practice as well, but no, no, no,
(24:22):
we need these people.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I think it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's amazing actually.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
As a brand as well, it's still is one of
those brands which is part of our psyche has just
been the trusted you know. Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
So my fun is about to get involded playing you
are granddad, granddad poppy opah pop.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You don't get to choose actually, because sometimes they make
a funny noise and it'll be it might be poops,
depending what comes out.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, check book.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Sorry that came out the wrong way. Can you ask
doctor John why we have to see a doctor to
get a medical certificate for work? If you've been off
for more than two days with the cold and flu,
massive costs. You usually have to wake a week where
wait a week to see the doctor. It's usually well
after being a healthy. Big drag on doctors having to
do these that's from PSI and christ Church. I think
that's an question almost for an employment consultant because.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's in your employment contract. We can't do anything. I
don't want to see you when you're well, when you've
just had a sniffle and you've been off work. It's
to stop you malingerous from taking time off work when
you say you're second, not yea, and which is what
I like?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, what I mean is it's a question that is
more of an advice for you as a person that
if you're a good employee and you hardly need to
take time off, you're probably not going to need that
medical to know. But if you're taking a couple of
days every month, at some stage they're going to say,
how I think we're going to need a medical certificate
for that because they don't trust you any longer.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It's trust trust environment. From from a general practice point
of view, I do not want to see medical certificates
work waste my time.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Either that or you just become a contractor where you
don't get paid when you take time off, so you
just rarely consider when you take time off.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
But it has to be signed out by a medical
practitioner or a nurse practitioner or a nurse, not by
a practice nurse. Oh okay, okay, practice.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Nurse versus nurse practitioner.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Explain, Please practice nurse practitioner has done extended training and
it's registered in a certain aspect of healthcare, so there
actually further registraction. It's an ongoing degree process above prectice.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
How it's a degree process as opposed to what's the
other form of what would appractices has.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Got a nursing degree, practitioner has got an edited degree.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
On top of that, and would most nurses want to
do that very sexually.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
It hasn't really taken off as well. And they're a
great boon and news practitioners can be really helpful to
a practice.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, what have we got here? I'll tell you what
I want to ask before we get onto other text
because I've just got to preview that one. Oh, okay,
how we go? I am I'm on sex cender.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yep, just started.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So far it's going well, except I'm getting bad injection
site rashes. What should I do? I would ask my doctor,
but he's on leave until that October. There's got to
be an alternative.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Anyway you're here, there'll be someone in the practice. We can't.
We are contracted to provide access to care twenty four
hours a day, se days a week, three sixty five year.
That's part of the capitation contract that we sign. So
you can't just go out on holiday for six weeks
and not have anyone to backfill. Yeah, so they should be.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It must be someone else in the practice.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Sex He is interesting drag.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
It's a GPL two agonist, glucagan whit white white one.
So it's it's part of a group of medicines which
are really really good for diabetics, diabetes and also for
weight loss. And that's the problem we've got, and that
it's all been used for weight loss. It's not a
simple medicine. There is some nasty interesting name sex Cender.
It sounds like a musical instrument, a politician. Yeah, yeah, anyway, right,
(27:44):
let's we'll come back with in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
We've got some calls to take and it is and
I'm going to I'm definitely going to get my question
in about first day dressings before we wrap up twenty
one minutes to five News Talks ad B and welcome
back to the weekend collect with this is the Health
My I'm ten Beverage. My guest is doctor John Cameron.
Just before we go to their calls, because I want
to squeeze the in because we've got some of course,
I'm just curious about the latest dressings, so my daughter
(28:08):
had it. We've got there are some quite groovy little
dressings which stay on for several days for grazes and cuts.
And I did it one of them. It's literally like
a I wouldn't say glad rap, but it's like a
it's a skin, it's just a film, ye. And I
cut it so it didn't have any edges on it
so she wouldn't keep pecking at it. And I've just
left it on for three or four days. And what's
(28:29):
the story with that.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
We've been using them for thirty years, I know, but
now we get.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Them ourselves at the chemist and stuff. But what are
the groovyoust sort of cuts and grazes dressings to use?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Okay, some first things. Never put anything into a wound
that you wouldn't put into your eye.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Wow, okay, ah, that I wouldn't. So that's a strange question.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Is actually really important because what you're trying to do,
If you're putting substances into a wound, it's got no
way of knowing whether it's going to kill good stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It's got to be a nerd.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You mean, yeah, salty water salines brilliant, Oh, yeah, if
it's dirty, clean it with some salt, slow salty water.
Make sure it's nice and clean. Put a little exclusive
It's not truly aclusive dressing, but a breathable dressing, which
is those little plastic ones that you've seen skin with
a little plastic film with a dress and you sort
(29:19):
of put it on and peel off the top, so
it on for a couple of days week. That's what
we would you would put you put any cream on
it before you did that. If you put that into
your eye, oh oh I know.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Okay, so okay, save if you decide to go without
the cream, can you just put those dressings on? Because
one intuitively would think what about when it comes to
peeling it off, But it's a nonstick there's the pair
but they do stick, But they don't.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
They don't really. They've got a pad on the inside
of it which has got a nonstick coating.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
On it, but they still stick to your skin. God,
they're clever.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Oh, they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
But it is, it is, it's it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
So the bit that's sticking is the plastic film around
the dressing will stick to the skin. The center bit's
got a nonstick pad on it.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
No, I'm talking about something that's just the skin. It's
just a plastic Oh no, no, no, it's not a
good idea. What's it there?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I don't know. I didn't sell it to.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You now, but I popped it on. It just healed
up and then she just pulled it off and it
was fine.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
It's much better there, the one with the white pad
on white he should be using.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Great, Well, what was the other one for that? I'll
have to google it and show you. In the brake
he's giving me the once saving the break, doctor John, Look, anyway,
just pull the curtains down. Any noticed.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
You were looking.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Just traumatized, calling out chatter tomorrow. Right, let's what's wrong
with us? Okay, right, let's carry on. Bertie, Hello, hang on,
I no, sorry, Bertie, you just wait a minute, because
Jeanette was first in line. Sorry Jeanette, Hello, Hi, how.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Are you good? Question? We finally convinced with Farmers. We
finally convinced the hobby to go to the doctors because
they kept stopping and pausing and having moments, and they
did some blood tasted and ECG, blood pressure all great,
and I've said they think he's probably got and told
him to google postural hypertension. Yeah, is the anything he
(31:06):
can do about it?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
I think we need a better diagnosis. So postural hypertension
just means every time you stand up, your blood pressure
falls and you fall on the ground.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah he does.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Okay, I'd probably want to push that a little bit
further as to why that is. Has it just started happening.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
No, it took us over a year to get him
to go.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Baggers. If it was a cow, you'd have the veta
out there tomorrow, wouldn't he Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
He would, Yeah, absolutely he would.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I'm a farmer on fine, I don't want to go
and see a doctor. They might find things.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Yeah, and that could. We only managed to get him
there because we were scanning you and he dropped in
the yards and the scanner tore him off.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
This needs to be chased a little bit more. Postural
hypertension is a description of what happens. It's not a
diagnosis as to what's causing it.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Yeah, they did, and they said he did a blood pressure,
tell you my bloods and said it was fine.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, No, that won't tell you much. Keep pressing back
to the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Doctor, Jim.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
It took me a year.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Tell him, Doctor John said.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I tell him to tell him what I tell you to.
Just say next time doctor John's, we're going to call
you up and ask to put him on and ask
his being to the doctor and shame him.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
Okay, well that's what the candid did.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
The other thing does get out the insurance policy and
just that they're reading it at tea.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Time, which health insurance?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
How much are you worked? To me?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Did bertie?
Speaker 7 (32:37):
Hello, Hi guys, Hi doctor John, I've just got a
question being in mine had a excuse me, shingles factam
and I'm during a few months and she said that
she got quite a bad reaction from it and it
knocked her out for about three days. So before she
(33:00):
had his second one, she was told to take a
pen and dole this hand and a few hours before
the second one, because I think you only have two,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yep. So about twenty percent of people, twenty percent of
people will have a significant reaction to the shingricks vaccine,
and it's not due to the actual vaccine itself. It's
due to a thing called an edge of it, which
is a protein which is put into the vaccine to
heighten up your immune system. So it's actually a good
(33:31):
thing and unfortunate. Taking parasnama before won't do a damn
thing that's worth.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
But it does mean that the shingles vaccine is probably work,
gonna work, It's going to do its job.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Look, we warn everyone who comes in for that shingles vaccine.
So it's a free vaccine for everyone once they turn
sixty five and before they turn sixty six.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Otherwise it's two shots around three hundred and fifty dollars
a pop, so two vaccines. So if you're sixty five, yeah,
go and get it done. And it's a brilliant vaccine
in that you basically can give you a guarantee you
will never get shingles in your life.
Speaker 7 (34:03):
Actually, I'm actually gonna set was my next question about that,
So thank you for answering that as well.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
So yeah, yes, thanks thanks Bertie, Thanks you for your call.
We've got to keep moving. Actually, it reminds me I've
got to chick most the shingles because I can't remember
if I've had the shingles vaccine. I've had shingles, and
I'm pretty sure, but I can't remember. But I don't
remember it being as expensive as you say, was that
because there was a former vaccine that was not so expensive? Good,
I've had that one. Do I need to updated what
(34:31):
I have to get another one?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Sorry? Oh bloody? How long is it six months after?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Well I've got a few. Yeah, okay, right, I don't
qualify in the age thing anyway.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Ah, you passed them.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Sorry, thanks very much, John, get you back sometime. Actually,
you know what, I'm going to take another break because
we'll come back and see if we can squeze in
a couple more cars before we wrap up. But callers,
if you are holding, we'll get you to be nice
and concise so we can get in and answer your
question quickly John. Before I go to the break though,
somebody just said, as John's saying, not to use savlon
or idne on cuts and grazes.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Really why, Well, how can sevlon tell the difference between
the bacteria and U skin cell? Can it?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Okay, okay, so salty water please?
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Okay, there you go, there you go. It is ten
minutes to five news Talk Shit b.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
That's a.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Welcome back to the show. This is the Health Tim
Beverage with Dr John Cameron. We're going to see if
we can squeeze in one or two more calls. So
let's go.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Dug hi, Yes, how are we going there? I'm ringing
up to find out about how I can get rid
of vertigo, right.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Vertigo is a feeling of loss of balance, of distortion
and balance. A really good diagnosis for a start. There's
a whole range of different causes potential causes for it,
and unless you've gone through the middle of working out those,
it can be tricky. So that the classic one is
the thing called BPPV, which is benign perixsys more positional
for tiger, he can.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Plea maneuver, play maneuver.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Well done, yeah, mister Beveridge. But hopefully we've got a
better diagnosis. If it's not one of the simple ones,
that can be very very hard to get better for you.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
You have you had any people suggest anything what sort
of vertigo it is, or as any of this.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Well, I've been to the hospital three times, yeah, three times,
and each time they've they tell me there's nothing wrong
with me. I can get so far with the doctors
and they don't seem to be able to sort of
do anything about.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
It that indicate it's more like to be the postural
vertical that because it goes away.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Yeah, it comes and goes. Is it there all the time?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Well, yeah, virtually. What's happening now? When are you eat food?
My head tightens up.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Okay, In all honesty, sometimes things are very hard to
delve into. I think you'd need some more time, some
really exact bits of what's going on with you to
help make a diagnosis. I'm sorry, I count off to
you much more on the radio on that one.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yeah, sorry about that, Doug, right, Lucky, last call it Alan. Hello,
we got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Okay, Well, look, the question I had was why don't
we have more hospitals and less doctor surgeries?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Oh you mean you want fewer? You want more hospitals
and fewer GPS. I think, John, you'd advocate for more
GPS and few hospitals.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:23):
But see, I lived in Asia, and when I was
in China, I lived in a town they had twenty
five million people of it. We had street hospitals, We
had hospitals, but we didn't have doctor surgeries. If you
had something wrong, you went to a hospital and they
passed you from department to department. So by the end
of the day. You had everything that you required to
(37:43):
know what was wrong with you under your arm and
X rays and tests, and here New Zealand you see
a GP and they make you wait six months.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Sorry, I had just said click on so I could
get John's quick response to that.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Very expensive way of doing health, very very expensive. You
need to filter it the first part to work out
what's the best thing for you. Sometimes you've got the
one stop shops. We've got one stop shops for certain health.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And I would have thought the argument is that we
should have more gps because if we can have the
right interventions at the right time and good diet and
good medical treatment, then we avoid having to have more hospitals.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Yeah. Yeah, it's what's the definition of hospital?
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, I think the China hospitals sound like they're not
quite as the hospitals as we understanding to be. But
thanks for your coil. Wow, time flies me having fun.
Oh well, he congratulations on being the grandfather again.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Then I'm just going to leave here and go out
and pick up that little man, give him a big
came ah.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Wow, we have a great day. Well, thank you for
taking time to come and see us. John.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
It's a pleasure mate.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Excellent. We'll be back shortly with Smart Money Max is
in the studio joining us to discuss any your questions
around cvs and stuff. But anyway, we've got to get
out of here because guess what news is next.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talks it'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk
s B and welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
To the Weekend Collective. By the way, thanks for all
your feedback to politics and the text and everything. Sorry
we didn't get to give the voice to all the
feedback there, but we very appreciate it. And you can
check that hour out any anywhere you will get your
podcast for the Weekend Collective start at iHeartRadio. Great starting place.
I'm Timberberish by the way, for just joined us, and
now it's time to move on to the health Hub.
We want your calls on eight hundred eighty ten eighty
(00:32):
in text on nine two nine two. And my guest, look,
he is is the word doyen of GPS? Is that
is that a weird?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I don't know. We're gonna forget that under the floor,
rolling on the floor, John Cameron, how are you mate?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Dr John?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
What does douyan mean?
Speaker 4 (00:48):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Douan? My uncle was a doyen of New Zealand cricket.
He used the don the doy in he wrote for
the hero.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hang on, Well, okay, that is a pretty big it's
a big called the most respected or prominent person in
the particular field. A do anyway, how are you?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'm brilliant. I look, I put myself in lectric car
last but hold that thought.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Congratulations, you're a granddad.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Ah, first of our GROANND children arrived eleven three minutes
past eleven yesterday morning, weighing in at five pound five ounces,
four weeks early. Doing so well, Mum, Dad. The bub
without name is superb. So we're just over the moon,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
It's the ultimate piece of good news. You're just like
you must be over the moon.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I've run out of tissues. My eyes have been tearing.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Four hours, really soft. Anyway, hang on, you're talking about
something else before I cut you off so rudely.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Well, you're thinking about electric vehicles. I thought, you know
you're going to save money into all this. No, there's
another part to it. What I was I was down
fishing in Taupo last week, head of a week off work,
which is just brilliant catch anything. Absolutely So.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
He's fizzing at the you're fizzling at the butt today.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
So pulling to do a tap and go and coming
back in and it's a guy in the car next
to me and he wasn't driving electric car. He's a
dog trainer, a sheep and cattle dog trainer from downtown Manui. Yeah,
an interesting man of the clubs. And we talked for
about half an hour while the car topped up. And
that's the whole thing about electric cars. It in visages
(02:25):
and invokes conversation with people. You would never do that
at the petrol station.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, you wouldn't have half an hour at no station.
You have three minutes.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But that's what I did, just half an hour channing
to this guy I've never seen before.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
So it's a social thing. It's such a social thing.
Get an E E vehicle and while you're charging there,
you'll you'll have to be sociable because actually, you know
the thing I've noticed, and we're going to get onto
health by the way, No, no, no, no, but this
is this is all about good health, you know, hail fellow,
well met, But you can give us a call one
hundred and eighteen eighty that there would be people who
(02:58):
be charging those cars or just have their bloody air
air plugs in and listening to.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
No wrong sort of person. No, we're gregarious. Who are
all our ev owners. We're just brilliant people saving the planet,
saving the planet.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
And insufferable anyway, Hey, look, a couple of things I
want to talk about. I'm I'm going to get an
update from you on a few first d AID issues because
but firstly, one of the news discussions has been about
the stress that primary healthcare is under and the simple
question about whether people is that the model of people
(03:32):
having your regular family GP who you can rely on,
you have a relationship with, you get to know, I
mean relationship within professional relationship obviously frowned upon otherwise is
that connection with your GP and having that sort of
is that on the way? Is that under threat at
the moment, because you know, it's hard to get to
see a doctor sometimes I think.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
It's under threat, and that is a reflection of the
whole general practice workforce. The concept of having that cradle
to grave, that person that you can trust, I think
is really really important, that continuity of care. And when
I'm training students are aware something got their ars in
the chair today? What you know, why are they actually here?
And when we see our punters, it's not just that
(04:13):
person sitting in the chair, it's the whole far now
sitting in that year. And that's the thing which I
think we're going to miss if we get down to
incidental based care, disease based care, we're in trouble. But
I think we're in trouble about general practice as a whole.
It's been it's how do we improve our general practitioners.
So basically, we we've got about thirty eight percent of
(04:35):
our gps are overseas trained. They're not coming into the
country at the moment. Fifty one percent of full time,
thirty seven percent of general practice is due to retire
in the next five years, fifty five percent in the
next ten years with the current.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Every sorry, hang on, what fifty percent of gps years.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
And they're not back for left from percent. We've had enough,
you know, we're getting over We're getting burnt out. Seventy
nine percent of gps are saying that they're burnt out
at the present time because of the demands on them
from the patients and from our healthcare. Actually, God, that
is a scary stit Now it gets scarier. Fifty seven
percent of our current gps are over fifty. In nineteen
(05:16):
ninety eight, twenty five percent of our gps were over fifty,
So we've got an aging general practice population.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Actually is part Now I don't want to be depressed
about this or depressive or or pessimistic, but if I
was to point to another problem that that suggests to
me is that one of the reasons you would be
in general practice is to have that very connection with
families and with your patients that give you a sense
of reward rather than just being the next cab off
(05:45):
the rank. Someone you've who's going to come and see
you'll never see them again. And it's that lack of
connection with communities is that which which means that the
job looks less appealing.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
To So how do we attract people into general practice
primary care?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I mean, what got you into it?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Because I loved it. I got into general practice because
my general practitioner drove a bright red etope and he
was a marvelous guy. He was Ollie Johnson, a brilliant guy.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Well there's the problem there. You're driving an EV.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
So that was my role model. I saw this guy
and I thought.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You want a car like that?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Or I did.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was part of it was not as that's not
as sort of warm, fuzzy as I thought it was
going to be.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
I'd also like that job that that that involvement he
was my g pie since I came onto the planet
until I've went off to medical school. So how do
we attract people into general practice.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
In Actually, can I backtrack on there? And you said
that you liked his car? Okay? But what ultimately kept
you in general practice? What you got? I mean, you
have the the young man sort of like that looks cool,
and you have an idea about what it's like. But
when you got into it, what kept you there? And
what was you?
Speaker 4 (06:49):
Know?
Speaker 3 (06:50):
People? People, It's all about people, and general practice I
think is one of the most challenging disciplines in medicine.
It's not like you don't Especialists learn more and more
about less and less until I know absolutely everything about nothing.
We learned less and less about more and more until
we leve a little about everything. And when that door
opens and someone walks into your room, you've got no idea.
It's a blank canvas about what's going to happen, and
(07:12):
you've got to be on your toes. You've got to
be thinking twenty four to seven about what's going on
because we're the front line.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
How often do people carr sorry, carrying on? How often
do people come in and they come to see you
about one thing, and then you sit there and you go, well, actually, okay,
they might be here because about something that's maybe some
symptom that's bothering them, but really they're here for another reason.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
Ninety percent. Yeah, it is always that, Oh, while I'm here.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Doc, actually I think I might have done that myself.
It's like, but people who say, look, I've you know,
I've got a bit of a sniffle. And then, by
the way, here's another symptom I've been having. You're like, okay, right,
we'll drop the pants. We're going to do that examination
you were too embarrassed to ask for.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, I get chest painting every time I go flood
the stairs. That sort of thing's always dropped in at
the end of the console. So that's fine. So how
do we attract people there? So I'm coming back to
this one. It's not just fun, but funding plays a
part of it. We've grossly underfunded our primary care teams
for years and years and years. Our fees are government controlled.
We cannot put our fees up. The amount that you
(08:15):
pay to go and see a general practice is probably
about a third of the actual cost of what you're
receiving and the government subsidizes the rest of it.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How does it work? So because some I mean some
gps do cost more than others, how's that working?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Because they're always higher, so we can.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Getting less funding?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
No, no, no, no, get the same level. There's two
broad categories of funding right there. There's a thing called capitation,
and capitation pays a lump sum per individual within your practice.
There's a second grouping, which gets an increased funding per
patient if they meet more than fifty percent high needs
patients within their population. High needs is quintil five milori pacifica.
(08:55):
So if they've got even more stringent restrictions on how
much fees they can charge. So if you go to
when we where some people are charging eighty five dollars, right,
if you go somewhere else they might be charging fifty,
might be charging sixty dollars. If you go to a
low cost access practice nineteen dollars fifty.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And that will be because they are getting more government funding.
More government funding.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, but the government funding increases seriically each year according
to a CPI, and it just hasn't kept up with that.
Our costs have gone.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Sure, how much more funding do you think we need
for general practice?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
It's in the billions. Yeah, okay, And the problem is
if we lose our general practice primary care teams, our
secondary services will be completely swamped and cease to exist.
So we are probably the most cost effective. It's a
four to one investment. For every dollar you spend in primarykey,
you get a four dollars saving in health and nobody
actually realizes that. And we're being squeezed at the moment,
(09:50):
and squeeze so much that we're not going If you're
a general practitioner, I've been in practice for thirty odd years, right,
Senior GP. My colleagues in the hospital are being paid
by the government three times what I earn three times
and that's in public, not even in private.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And what are they doing? Are they in general practice?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
With them? I know they're they're the physicians within the hospital,
that's setup who are at the same level of specialty
and specialism. But they're three times on government funding.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Blimey.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So how do you attract people in so one of
the ways is by remunerating at that same level. But
because we're private companies, there's always been this hedge. But
we can't pay people for private stuff, and so we've
never actually achieved equity with our other colleagues.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
And I guess so they get paid and you you
might get paid. You're talking about that the funding that
private GPS receiver is about a third, but you can
still charge a bit on top.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
That's income blummey. So how do we attract people in
so one thing that's leveling the playing field. We need
to get more people into general practice, obviously.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Because it seems also that a lot of GPS, even
the practice that I go to, there's a lot of
part time stuff going on. I mean partly because there
are some who've had families and female GPS you know,
have become mums and they come back and maybe that
are in two or three days. But I don't know
how many doctors at the practice I go to are
actually five days a week.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
So this is the other part what you're talking about
is when they're in the practice. Okay, so I'm doing
five tenths at the moment, five clinical sessions a week.
That's a half day. Now I'm doing another three to
four half days outside of the practice, just clearing the
paperwork that generated by those five.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Half days, and that you don't get paid for that.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And no, you don't get paid for that.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
No.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So when you see these radio and not part times,
if you were doing ten tenths, you're doing ten clinical sessions,
five full days a week, you would never get your
head above the water.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So if Shane Rettie was sitting here and you could
have a chat with him about it, obviously, I mean
the problem is that there's a lot of pressure on
the government person. Health is a massive, massive cost. So
what would you suggest? What would you be having a
chat with him about?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Shane? You need to change the healthcare paradigm in this country.
If you want to have a healthy population in this country,
you need to almost put that secondary care process on
hold and put the put the resources into the community
care that needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
How long would it take? So that's basically funding. That's money,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
I don't know whether it's just funding, it's it's care pathways,
it's the ability to provide services in different ways. We've
got to if we keep doing what we're doing, we're
going to go backwards. We need to do something different
and I can't see that coming from And if you.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Were a GP young GP okay you're a young med
school graduate. Now, I mean it's difficult to look back,
I guess because you've had a full career, You've had
all the rewards and the good sides of it and
the bad sides and all that. But what would you well, okay,
what would you be advising young doctors to do now
if you were wanting them to have a happy, prosperous, successful,
(13:01):
enjoyable career in medicine, the general practice, Oh, you would
tell them still to do that from I was leading
that in direction, you'd be like doing it.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
But because it was the most brilliant job out there, Yeah,
it is stunning, but not I'm not every man. And
if you're sitting there with a cold, hard light of
day with a big loans, big student loan, a mortgage
doing that, how can I get out of this whole quickly?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
No?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
General practice won't do that for you. So we need
to get the young kids, the young graduates into primary care.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Do do most I mean, do most practices still if
they see one member of the family, they will see
the whole member. Is it still? Is that still going on?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
That?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You know, family sort of family, one family, one GP
type of thing.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, like I was at the show in the town
Hall at Center last night and this guy was coming
down washing his hands like this, and he full of soap.
And his mother turned to me, seeing, oh, doctor John,
can you tell him to go back and wash his
hands properly. It was one of my patients who were
sitting there, and it was one of the families that
I wanted. He done wrong. He hadn't washed his hands,
probably came out covered and soap. It was quite funny.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
He hadn't rinsed his hands exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, but what a weird thing to do it. Okay,
but I knew the sun I knew then. So it's
family medicine. It's knowing the generations. You know, three four
generations of family coming through. It's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Anyway, Hey, look, you're welcome to add your say to
it that what do you think the government needs to
do to to reform what's going on in primary healthcare?
And actually, the scary I think the scariest stat you
told me was the fifty five percent they've got. I mean,
I think that's age wise, it's fifty five percent until
they're until are going to be hitting sixty five and
(14:37):
therefore leaving Wow, that is quite a scary stat actually,
just out of curiosity before we go to the break,
how many doctors actually retire at sixty five? Because I
got sal bugger all overall? Is that because they love
it or because they see the need? And I can't
really retire because what all my patients do without me?
Or a bit of everything?
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yes and yes, and it's the job. What you like
and what you do is generally wind down, you wind
backwards a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Oh, I've got a good text for you, but guess
what I'm going to save it to after the bak.
It's a great question. But if you've got any other questions,
and I'm going to dig into because I went to
the pharmacy the other day because my daughter grazed her
knee and the choice of dressings did my head and
so I went for the most expensive one. Of course, anyway,
I might have a chat about first day. If you
(15:21):
have any questions for John Cameron, Doctor John Cameron, give
us a call. I went on undred eighty ten and
eighty twenty two past four Newstalk said, b that's welcome
back to the weekend collective. I'm loving the choice of
music for my producer today but more funny behind the scenes.
So she tells me each each artist, and I like, yes,
I do know Billy Joel, I do know Aba and
believe it, and I do no Toto which you know
(15:42):
the rains in Africa and all that. It's a classic,
isn't it. Anyway? This is a health hub. My guest
is doctor John Camra. We're talking about the start of
the health system and what we need to do to
make GPS more accessible. Are you have in trouble getting
in to see a GP, by the way, give us
a call. We have lots of texts on this and
we're going to get into it. Actually, the first text
I somebody sent in was I think this is an
(16:03):
interesting one. That's where we're going on this high. Do
you think some primary care can be managed by nurses
and allied health and pharmacists? And is there a role
for those other people within the health industry to take
the load off job. Yeah, they're going to have to
because practice nurses are quite that's quite a specialty too,
and that's.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
A really big specialty, practice nursing team. I couldn't function
without my team.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I was about to say, how much do you love
your practice nursess.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Yeah, they are very very special people and a lot
of it is trained up within the practice and so
they get to know the patients, they get to know
how to manage things, and we are there to bounce
things off nurse practitioners, pharmacists, healthcare. Yeah, we need to
(16:49):
broaden it out. There still has to the one thing
that a lot of people not twardus. Diagnosis management fine,
and a lot of these things and doing the day
to day management of health concerns brilliant for that sort
of growth, but actually dissecting out what's going on within
that individual, that diagnostic process is very special part of
(17:10):
general practice. Yes.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Actually I have to own to a little bit of
a shortcover I've taken. If I want to see the doctor,
and obviously haven't been at death's door, but it's something
I wanted to see someone about. I just say, can
I come and see your nurse? And I have a
chat with the nurse, and the nurse has a good
chat with me, takes all things, and she goes I
might just quickly next door and they ask the doctor
a quick question and BINGO done. Absolutely, No, that's fine,
that's actually I wonder if that's quite it. Is it
(17:34):
a good way for a practice to go perhaps that
having a triage system in place for because you do
have people no, no, no, no, I know you have no,
but I mean more use of that as opposed to
I ring up. I want to make an appointment to
see the doctor, and you will have patients who want
to see the GP, and you know, as soon as
you see their name on your computer, I know what
(17:55):
this is about. And there are people who do who
are heavily reliant on contact with their GP, not necessarily
for heavy medical issues, but for this. Yeah, a whole
lot of things.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Before COVID hit, I did a little survey within my
practice to try and work out how many punters really
needed to be seen face to face in any given
given day. It's about twenty percent. Eighty percent of it
could have been done some other way, either by phone
or nurse triage or some other way of providing that
individual with the healthcare that they needed. So that that
makes it better for the individual who's got the concern,
(18:29):
and it makes it better for me as a dock
that I'm concentrating down on the work that I really
have to do, makes my diet, makes my day, bloody horrible.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah, because we all want tough stuff.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
No, I like to see people who aren't well. Oh,
if you're doing tough, tough, tough, tough tuff, you came
out right.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
We have some doxsy cycling for you.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Oh yeah, here's one. If you've got a cold and
you've got a cough, suck it up. It's going to
be six weeks as long as you don't have a fever,
shortness of breath, coughing up blood, pinpoint pain in your chest,
or drenching night sweats you've got a cough. Antibodys will
not help that unless you're an old crud smoker.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Can we just also put that this is my favorite one.
And look it's weak. We're heading too spring, so hopefully
it's less common. But you know when you get people
and win turned there, they're sniffing a little bit and
they say and they go, oh, i've got the flu.
And my answer is do you feel like living? And
they go yeah, It's like, well, you've just got a cold.
The flu is really.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
Sorry, it's not the flu. It is influenza A okay,
thank you, right, people called about flu, It's not it's
a distinct disease influenza.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
A and it's not very nice, a horrendous. Where are
we at with COVID, by the way, just in terms
of serious reactions and otherwise.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Still there, they're stilling around. It's still killing people. Omicron
is still the main strain we've got. Yes, please, if
you're in any of the at risk groups, get your
six monthly top up vexing. It's the easiest way of
giving you the best chance of not ending up on
hospital or dying.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Good advice. A lot of text people are are we
happy to call in? If you want to get to
the front of the que and you've got a question
just about your own health, you can have a chat
with John Cameron and person first and first serve. But
a lot of texts today, so let's go. How about
this is a suggestion just on encouraging younger people in
the professional I guess should the government forego student loans
(20:18):
then return for bonding people to either GPS or staying
in New Zealand and all that great idea. I'm big
on that, I think, because why would you train someone
up through our system and then they just go overseas.
It's like, tell you what here's a rebate on your
student fees at this rate the longer you stay in
New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I'm not sure that a new medical school is going
to do it, and that there is a there's a
catch point which people don't realize, which is once you
come out from your medical degree, you must do a
one year hospital stint to become registered. We're full. Those
registrations are actually full with the number of graduates I've
already got.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Right.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Is it possible for a GP to set up a
private clinic in a wealthy area where there's no government
funding and just basically people pay full price for consultations.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
You could, but you'd be dead within a week.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Well, because who would come to I guess you could say, well,
I'm expensive, but I'm available, because I.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Think two hundred and seventy dollars for a fifteen minute
appointment where.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
You go, okay, okay, right next next, Please a question
for the doctor. Please, that's good. I'm a sixty nine
year old female. I'm under investigator from my heart. I
was told my clinic appointment by the registry that I'd
be hooked up to a Halter heart monitor at home
for forty eight hours I've received my appointment for this,
but it says for twenty four hours. Is this long
(21:35):
enough as others I've tooked to a set? It has
to be forty eight seventy two hour suggestions please, thanks Catherine.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It's going to be fine. Depends on the resource and
the availability the whole to monitor. So Holter is looking
for a strange art rhythm when you hook you up,
We've got to hope that it happens sometime within that timeframe.
So of course the longer the time frame, the more
likely you are to catch it. So that's the catch
twenty again.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
It hi my daughters at medical school at the moment,
Why should she be a GP. From what it sounds like,
you're not rewarded financially enough to make it worth your
while and all end up being overworked.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
It's exactly that's what we're trying to fight and find
a way around that. You do it because of the job.
It's the most brilliant job. I'd hate to be a
proctologist because you're going to see are assholes. At least
I see some each day, but I see lots of
other stuff. So the more fine you get right, the
(22:23):
more you get brought into that one little bit whereas
we see the breadth of human life, and that's where
the beauty of general.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
It does actually remind me of a story of a
friend of mine who was getting a rectal examination, and
of course it's all done by touch, but he said
that the specialist was staring up in the ceiling or
something or over in the distance, and my friend looked
at him and says, what are you looking at? And
he said, where do you want me to look? It's
not all done by feel.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Absolutely, take your eyes out of it. You've either got
your eyes closed or you're looking somewhere else. When doing that,
you're trying to concentrate everything down.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Here's another one hide there. How who exactly pays GPS?
Is it like teachers are paid by the government through schools,
or is that there is a limit on how much
practices paid doctors? I guess I think the practice would
get the money and then you would top it up
with the fees that you were receiving and the income
and all that blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Yeah, So so it depends on the practice entity. So
basically the government will pay per head of population a
certain amount, whether you're a five year old, a fifteen
year old, a thirty eight year old Buddy Baba, without
a lot of extra mucking around with quintiles and with diseases.
It doesn't do that. Then you've got what the patients
paid the practice, and the practice will pay out on
(23:32):
that normally on an hourly rate for a non practice owner.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Okay, can you ask doctor John and said, were getting
political here. We've got to buy a bit of politics,
get into the politics a can you ask doctor John
whether it's time to get rid of Plunket and give
that money to the GP practices. Ever since National Plunkett
got rid of their volunteers throughout the country in twenty
sixteen to charge of their resources. One here is very
little about the organization. What do you think, Benny, No,
(23:58):
it should be.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Ramped up the resources. I remember Whigden to Calfeter and
every third day we had a lunch where we had
the Plunket nurse, the district nurse, the GPS, the pharmacist
and we sat around and talked about what was happening
in our community. And if you've got that trust relationship
with your local provider of healthcare to babies. Fine, and
lock them into a primary care practice as well, but no, no, no,
(24:22):
we need these people.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
I think it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
It's amazing actually.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
As a brand as well, it's still is one of
those brands which is part of our psyche has just
been the trusted you know. Yeah, yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
So my fun is about to get involded playing you
are granddad, granddad poppy opah pop.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
You don't get to choose actually, because sometimes they make
a funny noise and it'll be it might be poops,
depending what comes out.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Yeah, check book.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Sorry that came out the wrong way. Can you ask
doctor John why we have to see a doctor to
get a medical certificate for work? If you've been off
for more than two days with the cold and flu,
massive costs. You usually have to wake a week where
wait a week to see the doctor. It's usually well
after being a healthy. Big drag on doctors having to
do these that's from PSI and christ Church. I think
that's an question almost for an employment consultant because.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
It's in your employment contract. We can't do anything. I
don't want to see you when you're well, when you've
just had a sniffle and you've been off work. It's
to stop you malingerous from taking time off work when
you say you're second, not yea, and which is what
I like?
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Well, what I mean is it's a question that is
more of an advice for you as a person that
if you're a good employee and you hardly need to
take time off, you're probably not going to need that
medical to know. But if you're taking a couple of
days every month, at some stage they're going to say,
how I think we're going to need a medical certificate
for that because they don't trust you any longer.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
It's trust trust environment. From from a general practice point
of view, I do not want to see medical certificates
work waste my time.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Either that or you just become a contractor where you
don't get paid when you take time off, so you
just rarely consider when you take time off.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
But it has to be signed out by a medical
practitioner or a nurse practitioner or a nurse, not by
a practice nurse. Oh okay, okay, practice.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Nurse versus nurse practitioner.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Explain, Please practice nurse practitioner has done extended training and
it's registered in a certain aspect of healthcare, so there
actually further registraction. It's an ongoing degree process above prectice.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
How it's a degree process as opposed to what's the
other form of what would appractices has.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Got a nursing degree, practitioner has got an edited degree.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
On top of that, and would most nurses want to
do that very sexually.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
It hasn't really taken off as well. And they're a
great boon and news practitioners can be really helpful to
a practice.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, what have we got here? I'll tell you what
I want to ask before we get onto other text
because I've just got to preview that one. Oh, okay,
how we go? I am I'm on sex cender.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yep, just started.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So far it's going well, except I'm getting bad injection
site rashes. What should I do? I would ask my doctor,
but he's on leave until that October. There's got to
be an alternative.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Anyway you're here, there'll be someone in the practice. We can't.
We are contracted to provide access to care twenty four
hours a day, se days a week, three sixty five year.
That's part of the capitation contract that we sign. So
you can't just go out on holiday for six weeks
and not have anyone to backfill. Yeah, so they should be.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
It must be someone else in the practice.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Sex He is interesting drag.
Speaker 7 (27:19):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (27:19):
It's a GPL two agonist, glucagan whit white white one.
So it's it's part of a group of medicines which
are really really good for diabetics, diabetes and also for
weight loss. And that's the problem we've got, and that
it's all been used for weight loss. It's not a
simple medicine. There is some nasty interesting name sex Cender.
It sounds like a musical instrument, a politician. Yeah, yeah, anyway, right,
(27:44):
let's we'll come back with in just a moment.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
We've got some calls to take and it is and
I'm going to I'm definitely going to get my question
in about first day dressings before we wrap up twenty
one minutes to five News Talks ad B and welcome
back to the weekend collect with this is the Health
My I'm ten Beverage. My guest is doctor John Cameron.
Just before we go to their calls, because I want
to squeeze the in because we've got some of course,
I'm just curious about the latest dressings, so my daughter
(28:08):
had it. We've got there are some quite groovy little
dressings which stay on for several days for grazes and cuts.
And I did it one of them. It's literally like
a I wouldn't say glad rap, but it's like a
it's a skin, it's just a film, ye. And I
cut it so it didn't have any edges on it
so she wouldn't keep pecking at it. And I've just
left it on for three or four days. And what's
(28:29):
the story with that.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
We've been using them for thirty years, I know, but
now we get.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
Them ourselves at the chemist and stuff. But what are
the groovyoust sort of cuts and grazes dressings to use?
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Okay, some first things. Never put anything into a wound
that you wouldn't put into your eye.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Wow, okay, ah, that I wouldn't. So that's a strange question.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Is actually really important because what you're trying to do,
If you're putting substances into a wound, it's got no
way of knowing whether it's going to kill good stuff.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
It's got to be a nerd.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You mean, yeah, salty water salines brilliant, Oh, yeah, if
it's dirty, clean it with some salt, slow salty water.
Make sure it's nice and clean. Put a little exclusive
It's not truly aclusive dressing, but a breathable dressing, which
is those little plastic ones that you've seen skin with
a little plastic film with a dress and you sort
(29:19):
of put it on and peel off the top, so
it on for a couple of days week. That's what
we would you would put you put any cream on
it before you did that. If you put that into
your eye, oh oh I know.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Okay, so okay, save if you decide to go without
the cream, can you just put those dressings on? Because
one intuitively would think what about when it comes to
peeling it off, But it's a nonstick there's the pair
but they do stick, But they don't.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
They don't really. They've got a pad on the inside
of it which has got a nonstick coating.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
On it, but they still stick to your skin. God,
they're clever.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Oh, they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
But it is, it is, it's it's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
So the bit that's sticking is the plastic film around
the dressing will stick to the skin. The center bit's
got a nonstick pad on it.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
No, I'm talking about something that's just the skin. It's
just a plastic Oh no, no, no, it's not a
good idea. What's it there?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
I don't know. I didn't sell it to.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
You now, but I popped it on. It just healed
up and then she just pulled it off and it
was fine.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
It's much better there, the one with the white pad
on white he should be using.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Great, Well, what was the other one for that? I'll
have to google it and show you. In the brake
he's giving me the once saving the break, doctor John, Look, anyway,
just pull the curtains down. Any noticed.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
You were looking.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Just traumatized, calling out chatter tomorrow. Right, let's what's wrong
with us? Okay, right, let's carry on. Bertie, Hello, hang on,
I no, sorry, Bertie, you just wait a minute, because
Jeanette was first in line. Sorry Jeanette, Hello, Hi, how.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Are you good? Question? We finally convinced with Farmers. We
finally convinced the hobby to go to the doctors because
they kept stopping and pausing and having moments, and they
did some blood tasted and ECG, blood pressure all great,
and I've said they think he's probably got and told
him to google postural hypertension. Yeah, is the anything he
(31:06):
can do about it?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
I think we need a better diagnosis. So postural hypertension
just means every time you stand up, your blood pressure
falls and you fall on the ground.
Speaker 5 (31:17):
Yeah he does.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Okay, I'd probably want to push that a little bit
further as to why that is. Has it just started happening.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
No, it took us over a year to get him
to go.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
Baggers. If it was a cow, you'd have the veta
out there tomorrow, wouldn't he Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
He would, Yeah, absolutely he would.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I'm a farmer on fine, I don't want to go
and see a doctor. They might find things.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Yeah, and that could. We only managed to get him
there because we were scanning you and he dropped in
the yards and the scanner tore him off.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
This needs to be chased a little bit more. Postural
hypertension is a description of what happens. It's not a
diagnosis as to what's causing it.
Speaker 5 (32:01):
Yeah, they did, and they said he did a blood pressure,
tell you my bloods and said it was fine.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Yeah, No, that won't tell you much. Keep pressing back
to the.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Doctor, Jim.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
It took me a year.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Tell him, Doctor John said.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
I tell him to tell him what I tell you to.
Just say next time doctor John's, we're going to call
you up and ask to put him on and ask
his being to the doctor and shame him.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
Okay, well that's what the candid did.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
The other thing does get out the insurance policy and
just that they're reading it at tea.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Time, which health insurance?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
How much are you worked? To me?
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Did bertie?
Speaker 7 (32:37):
Hello, Hi guys, Hi doctor John, I've just got a
question being in mine had a excuse me, shingles factam
and I'm during a few months and she said that
she got quite a bad reaction from it and it
knocked her out for about three days. So before she
(33:00):
had his second one, she was told to take a
pen and dole this hand and a few hours before
the second one, because I think you only have two,
don't you.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Yep. So about twenty percent of people, twenty percent of
people will have a significant reaction to the shingricks vaccine,
and it's not due to the actual vaccine itself. It's
due to a thing called an edge of it, which
is a protein which is put into the vaccine to
heighten up your immune system. So it's actually a good
(33:31):
thing and unfortunate. Taking parasnama before won't do a damn
thing that's worth.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
But it does mean that the shingles vaccine is probably work,
gonna work, It's going to do its job.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Look, we warn everyone who comes in for that shingles vaccine.
So it's a free vaccine for everyone once they turn
sixty five and before they turn sixty six.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
Otherwise it's two shots around three hundred and fifty dollars
a pop, so two vaccines. So if you're sixty five, yeah,
go and get it done. And it's a brilliant vaccine
in that you basically can give you a guarantee you
will never get shingles in your life.
Speaker 7 (34:03):
Actually, I'm actually gonna set was my next question about that,
So thank you for answering that as well.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
So yeah, yes, thanks thanks Bertie, Thanks you for your call.
We've got to keep moving. Actually, it reminds me I've
got to chick most the shingles because I can't remember
if I've had the shingles vaccine. I've had shingles, and
I'm pretty sure, but I can't remember. But I don't
remember it being as expensive as you say, was that
because there was a former vaccine that was not so expensive? Good,
I've had that one. Do I need to updated what
(34:31):
I have to get another one?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Sorry? Oh bloody? How long is it six months after?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Well I've got a few. Yeah, okay, right, I don't
qualify in the age thing anyway.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Ah, you passed them.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Sorry, thanks very much, John, get you back sometime. Actually,
you know what, I'm going to take another break because
we'll come back and see if we can squeze in
a couple more cars before we wrap up. But callers,
if you are holding, we'll get you to be nice
and concise so we can get in and answer your
question quickly John. Before I go to the break though,
somebody just said, as John's saying, not to use savlon
or idne on cuts and grazes.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Really why, Well, how can sevlon tell the difference between
the bacteria and U skin cell? Can it?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Okay, okay, so salty water please?
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Okay, there you go, there you go. It is ten
minutes to five news Talk Shit b.
Speaker 5 (35:21):
That's a.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Welcome back to the show. This is the Health Tim
Beverage with Dr John Cameron. We're going to see if
we can squeeze in one or two more calls. So
let's go.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Dug hi, Yes, how are we going there? I'm ringing
up to find out about how I can get rid
of vertigo, right.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Vertigo is a feeling of loss of balance, of distortion
and balance. A really good diagnosis for a start. There's
a whole range of different causes potential causes for it,
and unless you've gone through the middle of working out those,
it can be tricky. So that the classic one is
the thing called BPPV, which is benign perixsys more positional
for tiger, he can.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Plea maneuver, play maneuver.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Well done, yeah, mister Beveridge. But hopefully we've got a
better diagnosis. If it's not one of the simple ones,
that can be very very hard to get better for you.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
You have you had any people suggest anything what sort
of vertigo it is, or as any of this.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Well, I've been to the hospital three times, yeah, three times,
and each time they've they tell me there's nothing wrong
with me. I can get so far with the doctors
and they don't seem to be able to sort of
do anything about.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
It that indicate it's more like to be the postural
vertical that because it goes away.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
Yeah, it comes and goes. Is it there all the time?
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Well, yeah, virtually. What's happening now? When are you eat food?
My head tightens up.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
Okay, In all honesty, sometimes things are very hard to
delve into. I think you'd need some more time, some
really exact bits of what's going on with you to
help make a diagnosis. I'm sorry, I count off to
you much more on the radio on that one.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Yeah, sorry about that, Doug, right, Lucky, last call it Alan. Hello,
we got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 6 (37:09):
Okay, Well, look, the question I had was why don't
we have more hospitals and less doctor surgeries?
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Oh you mean you want fewer? You want more hospitals
and fewer GPS. I think, John, you'd advocate for more
GPS and few hospitals.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:23):
But see, I lived in Asia, and when I was
in China, I lived in a town they had twenty
five million people of it. We had street hospitals, We
had hospitals, but we didn't have doctor surgeries. If you
had something wrong, you went to a hospital and they
passed you from department to department. So by the end
of the day. You had everything that you required to
(37:43):
know what was wrong with you under your arm and
X rays and tests, and here New Zealand you see
a GP and they make you wait six months.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Sorry, I had just said click on so I could
get John's quick response to that.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Very expensive way of doing health, very very expensive. You
need to filter it the first part to work out
what's the best thing for you. Sometimes you've got the
one stop shops. We've got one stop shops for certain health.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
And I would have thought the argument is that we
should have more gps because if we can have the
right interventions at the right time and good diet and
good medical treatment, then we avoid having to have more hospitals.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
Yeah. Yeah, it's what's the definition of hospital?
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, I think the China hospitals sound like they're not
quite as the hospitals as we understanding to be. But
thanks for your coil. Wow, time flies me having fun.
Oh well, he congratulations on being the grandfather again.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Then I'm just going to leave here and go out
and pick up that little man, give him a big
came ah.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Wow, we have a great day. Well, thank you for
taking time to come and see us. John.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
It's a pleasure mate.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Excellent. We'll be back shortly with Smart Money Max is
in the studio joining us to discuss any your questions
around cvs and stuff. But anyway, we've got to get
out of here because guess what news is next.
Speaker 1 (38:53):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talks it'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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