1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,880
Speaker 1: New research from the Royal New Zealand College of GPS

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,800
Speaker 1: has come to the conclusion that primary healthcare is being

3
00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,520
Speaker 1: financially neglected. Only five point four percent of this country's

4
00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:14,000
Speaker 1: health budget goes to primary care and that stayed exactly

5
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: the same since two thousand and nine. So I'm joined

6
00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,840
Speaker 1: now by the President of the Royal College, Samantha Merton,

7
00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,120
Speaker 1: doctor Setmantha Merton. Commodity is sam good morning?

8
00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:23,960
Speaker 2: Here are you good?

9
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,600
Speaker 1: It's the same percentage, but of a bigger pie. So

10
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,240
Speaker 1: can you really say that primary care is being neglected?

11
00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,960
Speaker 2: Although it might be of a bigger pie. The problem

12
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,519
Speaker 2: that we have is that the complexity in volume of

13
00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,920
Speaker 2: work that has gone on in primary care has expanded

14
00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 2: enormously over that time. So proportionally it may look like

15
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 2: it's stage detic, but also functionally it's stage static as well,

16
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,240
Speaker 2: because there's way more work that we're doing.

17
00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,600
Speaker 1: Okay, so you say it's underfunded. What are the consequences

18
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:57,880
Speaker 1: we're seeing from that underfunding?

19
00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think it's people know we are struggling

20
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,160
Speaker 2: to have GPS coming into the service. We're struggling to

21
00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,840
Speaker 2: keep our books open because you don't have enough staff.

22
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:11,760
Speaker 2: We're struggling to retain our nursing team because there's better

23
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,640
Speaker 2: options overseas or in the hospitals, and so we'd like

24
00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,360
Speaker 2: to have an expanded service and do as much here

25
00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,959
Speaker 2: in the community as we can, but it's hard when

26
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,279
Speaker 2: you're trying to I suppose reconfigure some that any stretch

27
00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:28,679
Speaker 2: at as star as you can, but it doesn't go

28
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,920
Speaker 2: any further than what we can currently do.

29
00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: Are there other areas of the health sector that are

30
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,400
Speaker 1: benefiting from the underfunding of primary healthcare so they're getting

31
00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:38,240
Speaker 1: a bigger size.

32
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 2: Well, the thing is it's about where do you invest

33
00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,520
Speaker 2: so that you make the whole system run more smoothly,

34
00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,040
Speaker 2: And so as soon as you reduce what goes into

35
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,880
Speaker 2: primary care, then it costs more having people dealt with

36
00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,520
Speaker 2: in hospitals. And if you're not seen earlier in own

37
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,600
Speaker 2: their own gp and looked after and had everything that

38
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,919
Speaker 2: they need to do, then they may get sicker, faster

39
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,480
Speaker 2: and end up in a hospital setting, which costs a

40
00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,080
Speaker 2: whole of all. So it becomes this vicious cycle of

41
00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:09,520
Speaker 2: people going to hospital is costing lots of money. Then

42
00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,240
Speaker 2: you can afford to invest in primary care where the

43
00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,680
Speaker 2: most efficient invest care can be done to prevent people

44
00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,200
Speaker 2: getting into hospitals.

45
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:18,959
Speaker 1: So what do you want? Do you want more money

46
00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,520
Speaker 1: or do you want a more equitable redistribution of what

47
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:21,960
Speaker 1: there is?

48
00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,880
Speaker 2: I think when you look globally at other countries, the

49
00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,799
Speaker 2: distribution that goes into primary care is around the ten

50
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:34,440
Speaker 2: to fourteen percent, not five. So every country has increases

51
00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,760
Speaker 2: budget over time, but we would like to see that

52
00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 2: the genuine investment in primary care is like not rather

53
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,240
Speaker 2: than five percent of the total, it's actually probably around

54
00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:46,760
Speaker 2: ten percent of the total at least.

55
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,360
Speaker 1: Doctor Samantha Murton, I thank you so much for your

56
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,840
Speaker 1: time today. For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge,

57
00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,400
Speaker 1: listen live to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays,

58
00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:58,720
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio