Source: General Practice Owners Association (GenPro)
The collapse of after-hours and emergency care in Upper Hutt is a warning sign for the rest of New Zealand unless the underlying problems facing general practice are urgently addressed, says the General Practice Owners Association (GenPro).
“The situation in Upper Hutt as reported by media is the canary in the coal mine for general practice,” says Dr Angus Chambers, Chair of GenPro. The Lower North Island city of 47,500 people currently has no hospital, no urgent or after-hours medical service, and a severe shortage of GPs.
Residents are forced to travel to already overcrowded emergency departments in Lower Hutt for even basic treatments.
“Upper Hutt residents are bearing the brunt of a national healthcare crisis,” Dr Chambers says. “The same lack of access to urgent and after-hours care is now emerging across New Zealand.”
Daytime GP appointments are increasingly difficult to secure, pushing up demand for urgent care. Yet providing urgent and after-hours services is becoming financially and operationally unsustainable due to:
Unsociable working hours and difficulty attracting staff;
Ongoing GP shortages and burnout;
Competition from heavily subsidised telehealth providers.
“Providing urgent care has become unviable for many clinics,” says Dr Chambers. “At the heart of the problem is a funding model that simply doesn’t reflect the real cost of running general practice and after-hours services.”
He warns that too few doctors are choosing to train or stay in general practice. Many are retiring early or moving overseas, leading to closures and cutbacks nationwide — as seen in Upper Hutt in 2022 when the local after-hours clinic shut its doors.
Dr Chambers acknowledges recent steps by the Government, including increased patient subsidies, modernising the funding model, and new funding for urgent and after-hours services.
“These are positive moves,” he says, “but they’re not enough to reverse years of underinvestment. Without bold, sustained action, we’ll see more communities facing the same crisis as Upper Hutt.”
“Telehealth is part of the solution, but not a panacea,” Dr Chambers notes. “Patients overwhelmingly prefer face-to-face consultations — and for many conditions, especially involving young children, that’s what provides the safest and most effective care.”
GenPro is urging the Government to increase funding for both accident-related care under ACC and general health care under Te Whatu Ora, ensuring it reflects the true costs of running modern general practices and urgent care.
“Adequate, sustainable funding will help retain and attract the GPs New Zealand desperately needs,” says Dr Chambers. “If we don’t act now, Upper Hutt won’t be the last community to have restricted local health care.”
