Dr Geoff Cunningham has accused Te Whatu Ora of "gaslighting" over the latter's comments on funding allocation for primary healthcare in Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte
Dr Geoff Cunningham has accused Te Whatu Ora of "gaslighting" over the latter's comments on funding allocation for primary healthcare in Northland. Photo / Tania Whyte
Primary health care providers in Northland will receive just 2.5 per cent of the $86 million Te Whatu Ora has set aside nationally to specifically address equity in the capitation funding GPs have spent years lobbying for.
A breakdown of various funding allocations targeted towards primary health organisations shows the$86m is spread over four years, which works out at $21.5m per annum for GPs throughout New Zealand.
Capitation funding is the payment of a fee by Te Whatu Ora to healthcare service providers.
Te Whatu Ora interim director of primary, community and rural commissioning Emma Prestidge said the money was a targeted investment to address the burden of under-funding for Māori and Pacific providers. Prioritised practices in Northland will receive $2.2m in 2023/24.
Whangārei GP Dr Geoff Cunningham said Te Whatu Ora’s pitiful 5 per cent increase in funding, despite the acknowledgement of the cost pressure index for GPs as being over 12 per cent, was misleading at best.
“It’s essential to appreciate that every year, we have a funding shortfall relative to our expenses. The critical fact is this compounds - over 20 years, the impact has been fatal for the sector,” he said.
But Prestidge said Te Whatu Ora appreciated some GPs felt the funding should be calculated differently, and it regularly met with primary care sector leads on a range of matters to fully understand the current issues and pressures, including funding for primary care services.
Cunningham said no region has been more negatively impacted than Northland, which started with the lowest co-payments in the country due to it being chosen to have the first rollout of capitation, and about nine months later, the rest of New Zealand started on a higher rate - and over 20 years, that has not changed.
Unlike other regions, he said Northland GPs have had fees reviews enforced, which punishes regions with the lowest fees. That’s been the death knell for Very Low-Cost Access (VLCA) practices like Dr Paula Mathieson’s at Rata Family Health in Whangarei.
Mathieson last month told the Advocate she was one of the GPs who was dipping into her mortgage to keep her practices running after what she called years of continued Government underfunding.
Dr Paula Mathieson has taken out loans to keep her Rata Family Health practice afloat. Photo / Tania Whyte
Cunningham claimed the Government abused a loophole that said it must “endeavour” to increase PHO (primary health organisations’) funding commensurate with their true costs.
Prestidge said annual funding uplifts were calculated by an independent organisation and determined through a method that has been contractually agreed with the primary care sector and has been in place for many years.
From the $102m over three years allocated towards supporting general practice with the rollout of the Comprehensive Primary and Community Care teams, Prestidge confirmed $4.1m - or 4 per cent - was for Te Tai Tokerau-Northland.
Te Whatu Ora would work with the prioritised practices in the region to determine the final make-up and placement of roles, she said.
Northland will receive 4.5 per cent, or $1.4m, of the $31m in ongoing funding across New Zealand to support the general practice nursing workforce.
On average, Prestidge said this represented an 8 per cent increase in salary levels for practice nurses.
