Free GP no guarantee of access to health care

Judith MacDonald

Free doctor's visits for children under 13 is not a surefire way to get people accessing healthcare, a Whanganui District Health Board (WDHB) member says.

"How's getting to a GP going to affect our teeth?" Judith MacDonald asked board members during their meeting yesterday, saying oral health was one of the worst issues for Wanganui youth.

"Also, GPs will need to consider whether they're going to do this universally," she said. "It's their choice. Our GPs chose to offer free under sixes way before this was the policy. Around the country, free under sixes hasn't been adopted universally."

The 2014 Budget announced that free doctor's visits would be extended from children under six to children under 13. This will come into effect July 1 next year.

"I'm not sure this policy is necessarily going to create the impact that the younger group has," Mrs MacDonald - who is also the Whanganui Regional Health Network CEO - said.

"What is it that we want to see? When do we get that platform of change and what does that mean and what does it look like?"

She said they had seen from free healthcare in the UK that "their free universal policy doesn't equate with health and wellness".

"You can't just put a policy on the table and say 'this is going to create health and wellness'," she told the Chronicle.

"Just because a service is free doesn't mean you have the right people coming in and accessing the service earlier."

Heading to a GP might not be a "top priority" for teenagers, she said, and it was important to look at the policy from a "system-wide approach".

Mrs MacDonald said she would be keen to involve Wanganui youth in discussions about what was needed to get them into primary care.