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Speaker 1: GPS are rejecting the latest funding from Health New Zealand

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Speaker 1: saying it's inadequate. They're warning the crisis in the GP

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Speaker 1: sector is now so bad that some practices may even

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Speaker 1: go out of business. And Brian Betty is the chair

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Speaker 1: of General Practice New Zealand with us. Now, hey, Brian,

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Speaker 1: Oh hi, okay, So House New Zealand is offering you

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Speaker 1: this time around a four percent increase in funding and

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Speaker 1: then allowing you to put up your existing fees by

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Speaker 1: nearly eight percent. Is that not enough?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Look, there was a report done two years ago

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Speaker 2: called the Sapare Report that identified that over the last

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Speaker 2: decade of two there was an underfunding of general practice

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Speaker 2: between ten and twenty percent. So all this does is

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Speaker 2: go some way towards the CPI or cost increases over

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Speaker 2: the last year. It doesn't actually fix the underflying underlying

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Speaker 2: deficit which is getting worse over time.

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Speaker 1: Now, howth New Zealand obviously don't have the money, right

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Speaker 1: They don't even have the money to hire the necessary

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Speaker 1: staff to run the new building that they've opened at

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Speaker 1: north Shore Hospitals. They certainly don't have money for GPS.

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Speaker 1: So surely the only answer is simply to get you

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Speaker 1: a bet that let you charge us more. Is that

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Speaker 1: not the solution?

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Speaker 2: Well, that may be the solution, but unfortnately, what happens

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand is the government fixes the price increases,

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Speaker 2: so we for a general practice that has to compensate

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Speaker 2: by increasing fees to patients, which is something no practice

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Speaker 2: wants to do. They actually have to apply to the

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Speaker 2: government to Health New Zealand to have that approved. So

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Speaker 2: everything is actually capped by the government. So both what

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Speaker 2: they've give in terms of capitation, the underlying funding or

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Speaker 2: the subsidy plus what we can charge the patient. It's

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Speaker 2: not a free free market at all. It is capped

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Speaker 2: by the government.

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Speaker 1: When is this going to get fixed?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, I mean the present minister has indicated that

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Speaker 2: his focus is on twenty five twenty six. He actually

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Speaker 2: understands the problem that has built up over the last

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Speaker 2: ten twenty years because this has been a long standing

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Speaker 2: issue that we have been raising with the government consistently,

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Speaker 2: and he set his focuses on next year's budget. So

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Speaker 2: we'll have to wait and see. But the issue at

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Speaker 2: the moment is there are a number of practices around

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Speaker 2: the country now that are actually operating at a loss.

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Speaker 2: There are gps out there at the moment who are

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Speaker 2: not paying themselves so they can continue to pay their staff.

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Speaker 2: The situation is actually getting worse and where we are

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Speaker 2: reaching a crisis with this ran.

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Speaker 1: If gps could make up the money by charging us more,

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Speaker 1: how much more would they need to charge us?

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Speaker 2: Well, look, as I said, the Sapiro report indicated that

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Speaker 2: on average, most general practice and practices were underfunded to

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Speaker 2: the tune of ten to twenty percent. High needs practices

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Speaker 2: that is in rural areas or serving high needs high

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Speaker 2: needs areas were underfunded both between thirty four and two

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Speaker 2: hundred percent. It was quite outs of staggering what the

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Speaker 2: report indicated. So look at we'd have to increase substantially

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Speaker 2: and that's part of the issue, and that is obviously

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Speaker 2: not good for patients. For a lot of patients, they

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Speaker 2: can't afford those types of increases and certainly something we

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Speaker 2: don't want to see happen.

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Speaker 1: Brian, thank you very much, best to luck dealing with us.

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Speaker 1: It's Brian Beatty, the Chair of General Practice New Zealand.

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