Hannah is on the executive committee of Rural Communities Aotearoa, part of the Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network, which – among other tasks – is working on ways to boost the rural health workforce.
Mark Eager, CEO of Hauora Taiwhenua’s mobile health group, told Federated Farmers leaders late last year that access to health in rural communities in too many districts is “appalling”.
There is a shortfall of about 130 rural GPs nationwide and a 2024 survey found that 35% of GPs and 21% or rural hospital doctor respondents intended to retire within the next five years.
Eager says Hauora Taiwhenua is working on multiple fronts to improve rural health access – with the Golden Key project one of those prongs.
“What often happens is that a locum GP is paid many thousands of dollars to turn up in a rural town,” he said.
“They’re there for anywhere between three months and two years and add lots of value. The best case is that they move permanently to rural NZ with their families.
“But if they have a bad experience, we don’t see them again.”
The same happens with medical students out for practical experience in their third and fourth years.
If a community embraces that student or locum, it can change attitudes to working rural, Eager said.
“Just down from Colin’s farm, in Kawakawa, one of the local GPs took on a city-based medical student.
“She said later the three best things she did in her entire medical school career was to go to the Kaikohe saleyards and bid on some stock; to go tuna fishing in the Bay of Islands, and to join a community catchment group doing ginger grass eradication.”
Another example is Ross Lawrenson, who’s involved with Waikato University’s new medical school.
“When he came from the UK and his family drove down to Te Kūiti, there was a guy in his driveway unloading firewood,” Eager said.
“Rural women had filled the freezer. The family was taken out in a jet boat the next day.
“It’s not just money that will keep medical staff in rural areas; it’s those sorts of experiences.”
Eager told the Federated Farmers leaders that it’s even better if medical students and locums find love while on placement.
“When I stand in the operating theatre of the mobile surgical bus and ask local team members why they’re there, so often the reply is ‘I married a farmer’ or ‘we bought a farm here’.
“I’ve tried to pitch for a rural health Tinder dating app. We may not get that, but the reality is if you can get someone hooked up in the rural town and to put down roots, years down the track, their kids might come back too.”
Rural Communities Aotearoa chair Gill Genet says Auckland and Otago University medical schools run rural immersion programmes and Golden Key will complement those.
But first, it’s the locums’ pilot. Areas haven’t been decided yet, but Genet will liaise with Federated Farmers once they’re identified to tap into the local Feds network.
“It’s not just the positive wrap-around experience for the locum that’s needed,” Genet said.
“If they’ve got a partner or kids and they also feel welcome, that can be a powerful retention factor.”
The locum pilots will be a runway to fine-tune what works best ahead of the first intake from Waikato University’s New Zealand Graduate School of Medicine being ready for practical experience.
Hannah says Golden Key is the kind of practical, grassroots initiative that appeals to farmers.
“If we give these locums and students a warm welcome and a taste of all the good things that rural life in New Zealand offers, we’ll be helping secure our own medical workforce going forward.”
