'Carrot' good ... but it won't solve doctor crisis in North

Easing student debt is a good "carrot" to lure more doctors to rural Northland - but it's just the start of solving rural staff shortages.
Tim Malloy, chairman of the Rural General Practice Network, said he had been fighting for 15 years to get more doctors into Northland's rural clinics, but attracting and retaining staff was still tough.
Wellsford-based Dr Malloy said Northland's rural health sector went through waves of staffing levels, from "crisis" to "satisfactory crisis".
"We're always one doctor short of a crisis. Fortunately, at the moment in Northland it's a satisfactory crisis."
But while traditionally hard-to-staff areas like the Mid North were at the moment faring reasonably well, other Northland towns had no local GP at all.
"The Paparoa clinic has had no one since Lynne Mitchell retired," he said.
Dr Mitchell finished work about six weeks ago.
"And I understand Dargaville is suffering too," he said.
Dr Malloy welcomed the National party's policy announcement to cut student loans of doctors and nurses choosing to work in hard-to-staff areas.
"A carrot is better than a stick, and student loans are a big thing - but it's only the start," he said.
National plans to trim up to $10,000 a year from loans of newly graduated doctors who choose rural areas, and $3500 for nurses, in an effort to reduce shortages.
But it would take more than a money bribe to attract the numbers needed, Dr Malloy said.
"You can't nail down what the difficulties are in one soundbite. It's multiple factors ... spouse, children, education opportunities, workload, specialist skills, lifestyle ... You only have to have one of those factors not working and it's not an option."
He said the Government had also made strides into solving the rural health crisis, with the National Locum Scheme and government-sponsored recruitment schemes.
There was also more focus on rural medicine at medical schools, with a rural "pathway" now available for medical students, more rural options in post-graduate study and the Northland District Health board's newly formed relationship with the University of Auckland, which brings medical students to Whangarei, including rotations at Bay of Islands, Dargaville, Kaitaia and Rawene hospitals.