GPs hanging up forceps

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Only four general practitioners say they have firm plans to continue delivering babies long-term in New Zealand, a survey has found.

The College of General Practitioners says its survey shows a woman's ability to choose a general practitioner to manage pregnancy and birth will keep on declining.

"At this rate there will soon be no GPs left in this specialised area," said college president Dr Helen Rodenburg.

The survey questionnaire was sent to about 150 GPs - those whom the college thought might have delivered a baby in the past year.

Of the 132 who replied, 79 (60 per cent) said they still looked after women during labour and birth.

These 79 comprise just 2.5 per cent of the country's more than 3100 GPs.

Twenty per cent of those 79 doctors said they were planning to give up obstetrics this year.

Fourteen per cent intended to stop by 2005, and 14 per cent were uncertain about their intentions.

Only 5 per cent - four GPs - said they planned to continue indefinitely.

Dr Rodenburg said yesterday that a decade ago there were about 500 practising GP-obstetricians.

Today, no one was entering this field and the remaining workforce was ageing.

The Government's main contract for paying for maternity services gave scant recognition to GPs and paid them too little money, she said.

Some doctors on a different setup were being driven onto the main contract. This was also being altered in a way that could create a new financial barrier for women who wanted to see a GP about their pregnancy.

College of Midwives national director Karen Guilliland said the departure of GPs from obstetrics was an international trend.

"We've been increasing the number of midwives trained to ensure there's enough to provide a maternity service."

She said midwives and specialist obstetricians were the core of the maternity service.

National Party spokesman Paul Hutchison, a former specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist, said the Government was presiding over the rapid extinction of the family doctor-obstetrician.

"New Zealand is heading towards having almost no general practice obstetricians in both the urban and rural areas and that will lead to serious gaps in choice of care."

He said the Government should recognise the key role GPs and GP-obstetricians played in care and reward them accordingly.