South Island GPs back after-hours care

South Island GPs will not quit after-hours care next year but may reconsider their commitment to evening and weekend work if they do not receive help.

At their annual meeting in Dunedin on Sunday, South Link Health doctors learned that 86 per cent of ballots opposed a remit calling for them to withdraw from after-hours care from January.

But Murray Tilyard, executive director of the private association representing about 460 South Island doctors, said GPs were no longer prepared to carry the load of after-hours care that they had in the past.