GenPro Chair Angus Chambers has welcomed changes to how first-year GP trainees are employed, saying any measure that encourages more doctors into general practice is positive.
“Access to a family doctor is the biggest challenge facing general practice and therefore our patients. Many practices across New Zealand are struggling to recruit doctors, and patients are seeing the consequences through longer wait times and reduced access to care.”
“Anything that increases the number of GPs entering the workforce is a good thing,” Chambers said.
However, Dr Chambers said the announcement represents a pipeline intervention rather than a solution to the workforce pressures currently facing general practice.
“This change may make it easier for some doctors to enter GP training, which is welcome. But it’s important to be clear that this is an HR improvement to the pipeline of junior doctors. It’s not a solution to the workforce shortages we are experiencing right now.”
Dr Chambers noted that even the current number of GP training places is not always fully taken up.
“We are still not seeing all the available GP training vacancies being filled each year. That should tell us something important about the attractiveness of general practice as a career.”
He said one of the key reasons is that incentives for general practice still lag behind those offered in many other medical specialties.
“Doctors are making rational career decisions. When other specialties offer stronger incentives or more secure career pathways, it’s not surprising many choose those options.”
Chambers said simply increasing the number of training places or changing who employs trainees i in their first year will not solve the problem.
“This is the third or fourth government that has listened to the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners’ advice that increasing training places will fix the GP shortage. It won’t. It’s only one piece of a much bigger puzzle.”
He said the underlying issue continues to be the financial sustainability of general practice.
“The real pressure point is funding. The funding going into general practice has not kept pace with rising operating costs or the changing and increasingly complex medical needs of New Zealanders.
“Until we address the sustainability of general practice, it will remain difficult to attract and retain enough doctors to meet the needs of communities.
“After years of under investment by successive governments, general practice needs further increases in Health New Zealand capitation funding for it to stay viable. A similar increase to that delivered in Budget 2025 is needed in 2026,” Dr Chambers says.
He said GenPro looks forward to continuing to work with the Government on broader reforms to ensure primary care remains strong and accessible.
“Strengthening the pipeline matters, but we also need to make general practice a sustainable and attractive career for the doctors who will deliver care to New Zealanders in the decades ahead.”
GenPro members are owners and providers of general practices and urgent care centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. For more information visit www.genpro.org.nz
