Health Minister Simeon Brown Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ
General practitioners will get up to 13.89 percent more funding this year in a new agreement the government hopes will eventually lead to faster care.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the $175 million increase this year was the biggest - by more than double - since the current funding system began.
"Too many New Zealanders have struggled to get care because their local GP isn't taking new patients, or the next available appointment is weeks away. This funding boost is about turning things around."
GPs had been crying out for more funding saying their sector was in crisis and doctors were leaving.
They were pleased to get a boost - but noted only some of them would be able to achieve the full 13.89 percent.
GPs received government funding via a capitation system - money per patient in their practice - and had been in talks with the government over the funding announced on Tuesday.
One of the negotiators, Christchurch GP and GenPro chair, Angus Chambers said the boost would help.
Dr Angus Chambers was pleased with the boost. Photo: Supplied
"We're actually quite pleased. It's a bit conditional so there will be some people who don't do as well out of this as perhaps we need them to do but, in general, this is a reasonably significant investment, and greater than we've seen for some time.
The increase to the most basic captitation funding was about 6.4 percent, he said.
To earn the full 13.89 percent, GPs would have to reach a series of incentives, he said.
For instance, there was an childhood immunisation boost that clinics would get if they were able to give 95 percent of babies in their care their six-week vaccinations by the time they were three months old.
That would not be doable for doctors with very few babies in their practice, and could be difficult in general because of a change in attitude to vaccinations, Chambers said
Another incentive relied on doctors signing up to give general, non medical-specific data to the government to help with its planning.
The minister said the increase was part of the government's plan to rebuild the foundations of the health system, with primary care at the centre.
"Too many New Zealanders have struggled to get care because their local GP isn't taking new patients, or the next available appointment is weeks away.
"This funding boost is about turning things around," he said.
Chambers said the funding would not change things instantly but brought New Zealand's funding more in line with Australia.
That could help keep and attract doctors, he said.
"This is like an oil tanker - it will take a long time to turn around - so this is really just a start," he said.
'Significant investment'
Speaking to Morning Report on Tuesday, Simeon Brown acknowledged the extra funding had been a long time coming.
"Over a large period of time there hasn't been adequate increases in funding for general practice, we acknowledge that," he said.
"There's been the Sapere report which has come out which has said, actually, we need to see a significant uplift in funding for general practice so they can deliver the timely, quality access New Zealanders need.
"This is about acknowledging that issue; putting a significant investment into primary care but also targeting that investment so that it focuses on more access and particularly around immunisations and planned care as well."
The government broke down how the $175m would be used:
- $59m capitation increase for the number of patients enrolled with individual general practices
- $60m to encourage practices to provide more data for what the government called performance-based funding
- $30m performance-based funding for the vaccination target
- $26m in additional funding to help prevent fee increases for under-14s and keep fees capped for people on low incomes and community service cards
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
