August 04, 2022
GPs worried about succession plan
An award-winning Māori doctor says urgent action is needed to tackle a looming GP shortage.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners estimates the country will be short 300 GPs in 10 years.
Matire Harwood, who was given the Community Service Medal at the college’s annual conference last week, says the problem was acknowledged at the conference by Health Minister Andrew Little.
“A lot of the workforce surveys coming out saying we’re an older occupation group so many of us will be retiring in the next 10 to 15 years so we do need to set up that pipeline now so we are getting fantastic, amazing, passionate doctors into general practice,” she says.
Dr Harwood, of Ngapuhi, says her award really belongs to a fantastic support group of South Auckland community health teams who worked tirelessly during the height of the Covid pandemic.