“Government Should Consider Salaried GP Option”

29 October 2004

“Government Should Consider Salaried GP Option”

“The government should seriously consider the option of salaried general practitioner employment by district health boards to help overcome concern about patients being deterred from seeing a GP because of cost,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today. Mr Powell was responding to the 2004 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.

“The government’s laudable objectives in primary health care would be considerably enhanced by DHBs offering salaried employment to GPs, particularly in areas where cost is identified as an obstacle to patients accessing GPs. This would mean that there would be no costs to patients in the same way as there is presently no charge for public hospital outpatient clinics.”

“The new national collective agreement for salaried senior doctors (including GPs) would also offer positive advantages in helping overcome many of the current GP shortages throughout New Zealand,” concluded Mr Powell.

ENDS

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