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October 14, 2022
GP incentive payment win win for health sector
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On October 14, 2022
Download AudioSouth Auckland’s top doc has welcomed plans to boost the starting pay for general practitioners to increase the number of doctors in primary healthcare.
Health Minister Andrew Little says pay for junior GPs could increase by 23 percent.
Dr Andrew Connelly, the chief medical officer for Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau, says it’s likely to have a long-term effect, rather than pull staff out of hospitals.
“We need more GPs and we know our GP workforce is on average one of the older workforces in medicine so it’s a positive step. Obviously, we don’t want to solve one problem and create another but I have confidence we can increase the number of doctors staying in the region and hopefully have a win-win,” he says.
Dr Andrew Connelly says short term the only fix is to attract more doctors from overseas, but he’s encouraged by the number of South Auckland-raised young Maori and Pasifika doctors now working back at Middlemore.
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