Northland needs double the current number of new general practitioners starting in the region each year to sustain the ageing workforce, Manaia Primary Health Organisation chief executive says.
His comment follows revelations Northland is again listed as a hard-to-staff community for graduate doctors and midwives wanting to enter the 2016intake of a Government scheme designed to fill workforce shortages. The Ministry of Health launched the Voluntary Bonding Scheme in 2009, aiming to encourage graduates to work in hard-to-staff health specialties and communities.
Under the scheme, participants can apply for a payment after three years, and then after their fourth and fifth years. The terms and conditions, and amounts paid out vary between professions. Eligible doctors can receive $10,000 a year, while midwives can receive $3500, and nurses can receive $2833. If participants have a student loan, the money will go towards paying it back.
Manaia PHO chief executive Chris Farrelly was unaware how much the scheme had benefited Northland but said the number of graduates beginning work in the region wasn't enough to meet growing demand. "The average age of GPs is still in the late 50s, so we're coming to a place where we're going to have a lot of retirements.
"Since Auckland University's medical school started sending trainee doctors here a few years ago, we've had an increase in graduates working here as they make contacts and get good experience in their training so end up staying. But, to keep the current workforce, we would need to double the number of new GPs we're getting every year. We might get five on average into the workforce [a year], but really we need 10."
Rural parts of Northland were particularly hard to staff.
"Overseas locums are still relied on heavily to fill rural areas. Overseas doctors are great, but obviously we'd like to also see more coming through locally."
Northland District Health Board didn't know how many of its staff members were involved in the Voluntary Bonding Scheme. The Northern Advocate asked the Ministry of Health for the number, but was told it was not captured by the ministry's data collection method.
