The Government is working to address a rural health workforce shortage amid a sector under strain nationwide. 1News reporter Nicole Bremner visited Hāwera Hospital to find out what healthcare delivery is like for affected staff and patients.
It costs a lot of money and time to affect change in a health system that has long been under pressure.
Recent reforms, increasing costs, and a global shortage of medical skills are all factors contributing to ongoing problems in the health sector in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Over the past year, the provision of health services in rural communities have been in the spotlight.
Rural patients in many areas face long waits to see a GP due to chronic shortages.
Patients also often have to travel long distances for specialist services not available close to home.
To find out what healthcare delivery is like for affected staff and patients, 1News visited Hāwera Hospital in South Taranaki.
Hāwera Hospital has a 12-bed, 24-hour Emergency Department and a 15 bed in-patient ward.
It serves a population of 30,400 people which includes increasing populations of Māori and elderly patients.
“If you’re in an urban area, I don’t think people appreciate the psychological distress that it causes to not have help ready at hand; for the nearest doctor to be an hour away, sometimes longer, especially for whānau who don’t have the petrol money to make that hour-long trip,” Hāwera Hospital head of department Dr Marek Lang told 1News.
Transferring patients requires a high level of organisation and co-operation between Hāwera and Taranaki Base hospital staff.
There are often long waits for an ambulance to become available, and ongoing roadworks across South Taranaki can extend travel time considerably. Helicopter transfers are also subject to availability.
Hope for change
Hāwera is now an established teaching hospital for medical students interested in rural medicine.
Rural hospital medicine specialist Hannah Lawn has returned to the hospital where she was born to work and raise her family.
“It’s pretty special to be able to come back and practice medicine in the community I grew up in,” she said.
She hopes the rural medicine training on offer will encourage more medical students to specialise in rural practice.
“I think there’s a lack of understanding of what I do as a rural hospital doctor, even with my colleagues in other hospitals,” Lawn said. “Having students come through more frequently and understanding what we do will help people come into rural medicine.”
The Government has recently announced $20 million in frontline funding for 50 new senior doctors, additional specialist nurses, and health professionals.
In a statement, Health Minister Shane Reti’s office told 1News there has been an ongoing focus on the provision of services in the regions. A spokesperson added that Reti “absolutely acknowledges the challenge of sustainable health services in rural areas and difficulties rural communities face in accessing healthcare as a result”.
The Government said it also has a number of other initiatives underway to grow Aotearoa’s rural workforce, including:
- A $9100 accommodation allowance for General Practice Education Programme (GPEP) trainees who live within 30km of their rural GP practice;
- Strengthening the GP training pathway and increasing the number of GPs trained per year to 300 by 2026, with a focus on training a more diverse workforce, including more Māori, Pasifika, and rural GPs;
- Providing funding to general practices that offer community-based placements for postgraduate year 1 and 2 interns;
- Supporting placement of locum GP, nursing, and rural hospital doctors to support rural general practices and rural hospitals;
- Supporting the establishment of a National Rural Hospital Locum Coordination Service to support and strengthen the rural health workforce and implement initiatives to attract and grow a pool of New Zealand-based and international locum doctors.
