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THIS week’s issue is Stratford’s permanent doctor shortage.
While Stratford fortunately has enough locum cover, attracting and then retaining doctors who are prepared to stay in Stratford long-term seems to be a chronic problem.
Deputy leader of the Labour Party, Annette King and Taranaki/King Country National MP, Shane Ardern were quizzed about what their respective parties would be prepared to do to remedy the situation.
From Annette King
“Obviously the community is looking for a longer-term solution to the problem of attracting skilled medical practitioners,” said Mrs King.
Outlining her understanding of the difficulty of recruiting doctors in rural areas, Mrs King spoke of how when she was Minister of Health she increased the number of medical students, with a certain percentage recruited from rural communities.
“A student who comes from a rural background is more likely to take a GP position in a rural community – that is, they wouldn’t be afraid of it.”
However, a lack of trepidation about rural practice cannot speed up the training process, and Mrs King was at pains to point out that to train a GP takes around 12 years; another three if a student wishes to specialise.
“Given we set that out in 2002-2003, it will still take three or four years before we will see an increase in doctors who will be available to work in rural areas.”
Thus, at least in the immediate future, the shortage is set to continue with Stratfordians continuing to have to rely on locums that have been recruited from overseas; begging the question, what enticements would the Labour party offer to keep such doctors here?
“What I’ve always said is keeping a doctor here is very much something the community needs to do; not just with things like the provision of a house, but with the hand of friendship – making them, their children and their partners comfortable.”
“Some of the most successful GPs in rural New Zealand are people who have come from overseas and the community have just taken ownership of them.”
Mrs King said it was a responsibility of the government to ensure there were enough students being trained, but retaining doctors was something that needed to be done in partnership with the community.
“I’m sure the people of Stratford are lovely people and what they need to make doctors believe is that there is no better place for them to be.”
However, in saying this Mrs King did admit that for young people, there are a great number of opportunities overseas and that perhaps it would be better to recruit somebody who was a little older; that is, somebody whose family has grown up, or somebody who wants stability for their children.
“You’ve got two fantastic high schools here and Stratford’s in a great location – between New Plymouth and Wanganui.”
From Shane Ardern
In reply to Mrs King’s comments about attracting rural doctors, Mr Ardern chose to make the following comments.
“I have met with representatives of the Health Trust, the District Health Board and local Council,” said Mr Ardern.
“This meeting was to further discuss the new health facility adjoined to the new medical facilities in Stratford.
“In my view, this will create an environment which will be attractive for new doctors and locums to work in Stratford.”
Mr Ardern went on to say that he believed Stratford to be a very welcoming and warm community and that the people in Stratford were very good in welcoming newcomers to the district. 
“The locums that have been attracted to Stratford are predominantly from the USA and have been of a high calibre.
“They have brought a diversity of culture and medical experience, which I think the people of Stratford have greatly appreciated.” 
Specifically with regard to securing permanent doctors, Mr Ardern suggested that the new facilities would go a long way in increasing the town’s attractiveness to doctors and specialists.  “There will be more flexibility in how many doctors are on-call and when.  
“Further to this, National has offered a bonding system to medical graduates who decide to practice in ‘hard-to-staff’ rural areas.
“This should assist in the doctor shortage that developed under the Labour Government during the previous nine years,” he said.

MPs lobby for Taranaki to be included in doctor’s bonding scheme

Taranaki’s access to medical services is something that concerns to MPs Jonathan Young and Chester Borrows.
MPs Chester Borrows and Jonathan Young have been lobbying the Minister of Health Hon Tony Ryall for the inclusion of Taranaki in the voluntary bonding scheme; at a time when pressure is coming on the Taranaki DHB to meet the medical needs of the region within budget.
The voluntary bonding scheme has had the effect of attracting medical graduates to hard-to-staff areas, as the scheme introduced by the National-led government enables student loans to be reduced significantly for graduate medical clinicians who commit to serve in these areas.
This incentive is important to attract GP’s in hard-to-staff rural locations.
“South Taranaki has been particularly hard hit by GP shortages and this has threatened the viability of some medical services there,” said MP for Whanganui Chester Borrows.
“I facilitated a meeting between the Board of Southcare and the Hon Tony Ryall last year to give him an understanding of the situation we face in South Taranaki.”
“Due to the difficulty in recruiting long-term placements to GP positions, a lot of positions are currently filled by locum and short-term contracts, which tend to be more expensive, says MP for New Plymouth, Jonathan Young.
“If we can attract medical clinicians to long-term placements; that will enable us to spend more on frontline positions, rather than see the extra spending go on recruitment and short-term contracts.”
Jonathan Young and Chester Borrows successfully lobbied the Minister of Agriculture to include Taranaki in the Veterinary graduates bonding scheme in 2009.