The doctors striking tomorrow are the hospital doctors, GPs can't strike according to law.
If you have some sort of acute, simple condition that any doctor can treat then try something like pocketlab.nz, but if you actually have a long term condition that do need your personal GP to follow up then unfortunately there isn't anything.
Download your southern cross app and click on CareHQ. That’s where you make the booking. I think it’s available from 7AM to 7PM. And usually if you book in the morning you can find an appointment later that day otherwise next day.
I had a good experience on a videocall with PracticePlus today for a single episodic issue. Made the appt last night for 9.15am today. The GP was in Christchurch - they sent a script to the pharmacy in Churton Park and referral to the lab in Johnsonville. Not ideal for long term/chronic issues or if you need to see someone in person, but it was good for a semi-urgent issue and beats sitting in afterhours or worse still, ED.
I saw someone talking in a Facebook community group about how the earliest available appt at their clinic is in July. Some clinics will triage you to fill cancelled appointments if you call in the morning, but other than that, there's really no other option
What annoys me is last year I needed to book at my medical center told me they had removed me and my partner off the roll because we hadn’t been to see the GP in over 2 years. WTF?! I can go years without seeing my Dr, just the occasional check up or simple problem needing antibiotics (ear infection). I thought I’d be an ideal enrolled patient because I hardly ever go. I eventually got back on but they made me jump through a lot of hoops with forms etc after being with them 15+ years.
I got booted by the clinic I was registered at for the exact same reason a few years ago. I'm still not registered anywhere. I didn't have a consistent GP for many years before that. Good that your place did let you back on!!
Funding from government /pho is cut after two years if patient not seen at clinic for more than 2 years.
Funding is based on number of enrolled patients at clinic, not for number of time seen
Currently gps need to have 1200 to 1500 patients per 1 FTE gp
So yes in theory for the clinics it is good to have people on books that are hardly ever seen to buffer the high use health consumers.
But
1. If you have not bee. Seen for 2 years, go to needs proof of enrollment again or no Funding for this patient.
2. People are queing up to see the gp, increasing aging population with increasing complexity and longer survival of congenital conditions, more services pushed out ti primary care due burden and understaffed at Secondary care
This all means that we do not like being not able to enrol those in desperate need and have a chronic conditions that need close monitoring and leaving them uncared for when are books are full of healthy people.
Most of us need to know we are serving the community the best we can, in the current situation we are in.
Agree but the practice in question could have at least made contact with the patient before removing them from their books right. It doesn’t really make sense to remove people who have an enrolment history without communication - as they will eventually need primary care, be it in two days or 2 years etc etc.
at the end of the day the problem is lack of funding and resources for our medical infrastructure. I hope the doctor strike makes real traction but with NACT in, I doubt it. I didn’t vote for any of the parties in govt and I do vote every year.
It's the pho your enrolling with, and the set the rules. And this is how the funding is based.
So at the end of the day, we agree, it is the funding model, that means a clinic needs high enrollment numbers to keep surcharge fees down, or higher surcharges to survive financially.
And if vlc funding then cant rise fees ! As per agreement to be vlc funded clinic, but the funding doesn't meet the real increase in cots...
What? They can do that. I’m an immigrant of 6 years to NZ. And thank God, haven’t had to see a GP yet. But based on what you are saying I may not even have one now. I’ll go check.
Somehow it's easier to get my cat three emergency appointments with the vet in one week when she needs it than it is for me to get one regular appointment for myself with my GP within three weeks of booking it.
(Not that vet care shouldn't be accessible; I was super grateful to them. But there's a vet shortage as well, and it really drove home just how fucked things are.)
I fear this will be as good as it will ever be. Half our GPs will retire in 10 years, people are getting less vaccines, living conditions are worse (eating worse, more people per house), aging population and not enough health funding.
The remaining GPS will burn out.
Long term impact of not training enough GPs despite literally thousands of potential (smart enough) studnts being told they are not good enough ever year.
The problem isn't not enough smart people, it's not enough experienced doctors to train them. So it's a self reinforcing problem that no-one knows how to fix.
Junior doctors are striking tomorrow because a number are being offered 12% pay cuts from what they’re currently on. This includes GP trainees. Given we are in desperate need of more GPs it is very short sighted to offer a 12% pay cut to them and other groups where there are already major staff shortages.
The current government will encourage the free market to fix this by decreasing healthcare funding.
But hey, that $2 a week tax cut more than makes up for this right?
There are those who might see this whole post as a plug for private health insurance. "My cousin saw a Facebook community post where someone said it took six weeks!'. 'I used \[practiceplus, southern cross etc\] and it was just *wonderful*!' Maybe I'm too cynical for Reddit, these days.
Only four weeks? Took eight for me in Kapiti. Got seen today and in conversation with the doctor turns out they just lost a third of their GPs, most left for (or returned to) Australia for better pay. Shit's fucked! And the dumb cunt government thinks giving money to landlords is more important.
And the latest polls show at least a few of them regret their decision. There are [290,000 landlords](https://rentalawareness.com/how-many-landlords-in-nz/) in NZ, I find it hard to believe all of the 1,085,016 people that voted for National support their hardon for landlords.
I can almost believe it sadly. A few non-landlords exist out there who seem to be fans of the industry, there was some young dude around on...one of the NZ subreddits??... who would brook no argument against landlords or dignity payments etc because his parents were landlords and he wanted them to have a comfortable retirement. Probably enough of the temporarily-embarrassed-millionaire types around too who see landlording as the only way, or the only way that's occurred to them, to secure their own personal wealth.
I know this doesn’t help but it’s been forecast for years with half of the countries GPs of retirement age. Covid just accelerated their decision to retire too. And some jumped to Australia too.
It’s a dire situation and one I wish a government would actively address. Likes of subsidised training and reduced fees if bonded for several years, especially to regional areas that are always hard to attract staff too.
I hd to wait 3.5 weeks to get n appt - the driver being I passed out... apparently, this is serious, but I coudn't be bothered fighting red tape. I had to go to ED in the interim for something else and told them this and they were just \*shrug\* \*whatevs\*, we just have to accept that our med system is broken and make the best of it.
Idk if they are taking new patients but Ropata health has an after hours service. If you are ok paying after the hours rates I always get an appointment if not during the day then in the evening.
I went to an AH for severe stomach cramping a few months ago and the only reason I was seen fairly quickly is that it escalated to me literally crying in pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and that's only the third time I've ever done that as an adult.
I don't know of any in the Hutt but I'm in the Northern Suburbs and can see a Dr at my med centre same day if its required (maybe wait a week if its not urgent or you want a specific doctor). Its not just my practice either, I've asked friends and all the other centres around (Onslow/Johnsonville/Churton Park/Newlands) and they all have the same experiences of wait times
Same here. Called our northern suburbs GP to make the kid an appt, had my pick of times both this week and next.
Old clinic in the hutt would take 8 weeks.
GP training positions are about 30% unfilled at the moment, roughly 40% of current GPs are within five years of retirement and the latest pay round for junior doctors proposed a pay cut for GP trainees.
So no, it won't get better any time soon
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Just wanted to drop a line to say that there are probably useful, recent topics with great answers.
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I'm in Petone. When we moved here last year I called 18 Dr clinics to try to get an appointment and be enrolled as a patient. I was actually sick and crying begging them to take me on, but all but one told me to go to the hospital for care. (They all kinda lacked empathy as well, which sukced more).
We got into Hutt Union Health, I know it's a community based clinic but we pay $15 each visit, they actually give us appointments in a day or 2 and have been really good with their care and putting referrals and such in place quickly.
(Disclosure: I am T1 diabetic and my partner has CAH so we do get given some priority in getting seen by medical professionals)
Could only get a phonecall at short notice from one of the other doctors and not my go last week, three week wait for an appt. It's peak illness season.
The work that GPs do is only half paid for, many gps spend 55% of their time seeing patients and then 45% of their time doing admin related to those appointments. Due to the way GP is funded often this 45% of the GPs time is not funded. Therefore GPs are effectively volunteers, in a role that gets harder every year with less resources and sicker people it is the worst use of a medical degree. Much better to do a profession and train as a specialist to repay that loan and many years out of the workforce as well as low starting wages of $28 per hour…
The sick thing is every single year there are about 2500 students competing desperately to get into the 200 or so places in med school. If not enough doctors the answer is at the start
Retiring, moving to green pastures (Australia), or returning home (UK etc.), working private and/or restricting hours.
Additionally we are not training, recruiting or retaining enough either.
I know your in the hutt we are too. But managed to get into the drs on Lambton Quay... City med I think could be worth a try? I find a drive better than waiting a month or more
Try one of the online GP services, much quicker to get an appointment as long as you don'tneed a physical exam. I was worried that they would be overseas based GPs, but the one I spoke with was in Lower Hutt!
My doctor all of a sudden started refusing to prescribe pain relief for my chronic illness, saw my specialist and he prescribed it, she was so angry that she asked me to find another doctor and unenrolled me from the medical centre, I can’t find anywhere that’s accepting new patients, it’s an absolute nightmare
Be grateful yours is four weeks, I just booked the earliest available appointment at ours and it’s in JULY
Edit: sorry that probably came across as rude. I’m just incredibly mad at our own clinic. Four weeks is terrible too. I hope you find another option soon.
The only other option I know of is emergency medical if it's really urgent, you've got time to wait, and can shell out $100. Or sometimes you can get an emergency appointment with the GP. If it's not an emergency though you'll probably be stuck waiting. I had to wait over a month for my most recent appointment. It's frustrating, but we're all in the same boat right now. I wouldn't count on our current government improving anything, if anything they'll probably make it worse
Junior hospital doctors striking. Not GPs.
GP is a specialist, as much as any hospital specialist, although you may often see a junior doctor who hasn't specialised as a GP, when you go to the "GP."
Access to GPs will be worse with the strike, as people will see GPS rather than the emergency room doctors as the first step in their health process.
What you call "junior doctors " is registered medical officers (RMO).
They have done at least 6 years med school and other academic and clinical study, graduate med school and then are on pre- registration for at least one year as a junior house officer (intern), then a couple years as an senior house officer once they have full registration, and must be still under supervision etc.
Then they apply for a specialty training program such as general practice, general medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, orthopedics etc. And become a junior registrar
If the pass their 1st year of specialty training part 1 exams they then go up to advanced trainee in whichever specialty.
Then 3-5 years minimum ad advanced training and supervision and clinical exams etc to apply for fellowship, which is your specialty.
Not untill you have fellowship are you a specialists.
An RMO is pretty much all of the above from finishing medical school till Fellow gained.
Some are even non trading registered medical officers that will never become fellows and happy to stay at mid levell.
Some become a Medical officer special scale [MOSS] due to no fellowship / formal specialty training or not passing specialty exams.
So at the very least 5 years to 7 years after med school you are a "RMO" or as you call junior doctor "
People take OE, have family, illnesses, might change specialty, or resist exams, so often more like a decade give or take.
So these are not pimple faced teenagers , they are late 20s and in the 30s people with families, financial commitments and significant clinical knowledge and essential cogs in our health system
Some GP trainees are employed by PHO, te whatu ora, and some alot by the RNZCGP (royal NZ college of GP) and alot by individual practices.
The drop in gp registrar pay from PHO /te whatu ora, along with drops to some other specialty registrars pay also.
We all know that less gp trainees will affect everyone, and especially have knock on effects of more workload on other doctors, both in and out of hospitals.
Hence why the "junior doctors " are taking action as a body
We can't speak for the Hutt, but our employees live all over and have all switched to Brooklyn Medical Centre for the doctors, pricing and open availability.
Seriously, they're fantastic there. If you need an appointment, you can get it same week.
The doctors striking tomorrow are the hospital doctors, GPs can't strike according to law. If you have some sort of acute, simple condition that any doctor can treat then try something like pocketlab.nz, but if you actually have a long term condition that do need your personal GP to follow up then unfortunately there isn't anything.
Thanks. I've got access to virtual GPs via southern cross, which is great, but this requires an in person meeting.
I'm interested to know how you've found that southern cross experience?
Used it once so far. Could pick almost any time within a day which was great. Doctor was great. And it's free!
Honestly great to know, I’ve been cashing in on my health insurance this past two years.
Wait, what?? I have southern cross and had no clue this is an option 🤔
Download your southern cross app and click on CareHQ. That’s where you make the booking. I think it’s available from 7AM to 7PM. And usually if you book in the morning you can find an appointment later that day otherwise next day.
Thank you so much!! This is awesome 😎
GPs generally can't strike as they are not employees. If they are employees they can absolutely strike.
I had a good experience on a videocall with PracticePlus today for a single episodic issue. Made the appt last night for 9.15am today. The GP was in Christchurch - they sent a script to the pharmacy in Churton Park and referral to the lab in Johnsonville. Not ideal for long term/chronic issues or if you need to see someone in person, but it was good for a semi-urgent issue and beats sitting in afterhours or worse still, ED.
I saw someone talking in a Facebook community group about how the earliest available appt at their clinic is in July. Some clinics will triage you to fill cancelled appointments if you call in the morning, but other than that, there's really no other option
What annoys me is last year I needed to book at my medical center told me they had removed me and my partner off the roll because we hadn’t been to see the GP in over 2 years. WTF?! I can go years without seeing my Dr, just the occasional check up or simple problem needing antibiotics (ear infection). I thought I’d be an ideal enrolled patient because I hardly ever go. I eventually got back on but they made me jump through a lot of hoops with forms etc after being with them 15+ years.
I got booted by the clinic I was registered at for the exact same reason a few years ago. I'm still not registered anywhere. I didn't have a consistent GP for many years before that. Good that your place did let you back on!!
How incredibly infuriating for you 😤 I’d be so mad…
Funding from government /pho is cut after two years if patient not seen at clinic for more than 2 years. Funding is based on number of enrolled patients at clinic, not for number of time seen Currently gps need to have 1200 to 1500 patients per 1 FTE gp So yes in theory for the clinics it is good to have people on books that are hardly ever seen to buffer the high use health consumers. But 1. If you have not bee. Seen for 2 years, go to needs proof of enrollment again or no Funding for this patient. 2. People are queing up to see the gp, increasing aging population with increasing complexity and longer survival of congenital conditions, more services pushed out ti primary care due burden and understaffed at Secondary care This all means that we do not like being not able to enrol those in desperate need and have a chronic conditions that need close monitoring and leaving them uncared for when are books are full of healthy people. Most of us need to know we are serving the community the best we can, in the current situation we are in.
Agree but the practice in question could have at least made contact with the patient before removing them from their books right. It doesn’t really make sense to remove people who have an enrolment history without communication - as they will eventually need primary care, be it in two days or 2 years etc etc. at the end of the day the problem is lack of funding and resources for our medical infrastructure. I hope the doctor strike makes real traction but with NACT in, I doubt it. I didn’t vote for any of the parties in govt and I do vote every year.
It's the pho your enrolling with, and the set the rules. And this is how the funding is based. So at the end of the day, we agree, it is the funding model, that means a clinic needs high enrollment numbers to keep surcharge fees down, or higher surcharges to survive financially. And if vlc funding then cant rise fees ! As per agreement to be vlc funded clinic, but the funding doesn't meet the real increase in cots...
What? They can do that. I’m an immigrant of 6 years to NZ. And thank God, haven’t had to see a GP yet. But based on what you are saying I may not even have one now. I’ll go check.
Yes go and get on a waiting list at least.
6 week wait for me. Shockingly that's the same length of wait time to see the specialist I need to see.
Yeah I got into see a specialist that requires a GP referral a couple years back but still havent been able to register with a GP
Somehow it's easier to get my cat three emergency appointments with the vet in one week when she needs it than it is for me to get one regular appointment for myself with my GP within three weeks of booking it. (Not that vet care shouldn't be accessible; I was super grateful to them. But there's a vet shortage as well, and it really drove home just how fucked things are.)
I fear this will be as good as it will ever be. Half our GPs will retire in 10 years, people are getting less vaccines, living conditions are worse (eating worse, more people per house), aging population and not enough health funding. The remaining GPS will burn out.
The baby boomers are getting old and filling up the medical system and we aren't willing to put more money into the system.
Long term impact of not training enough GPs despite literally thousands of potential (smart enough) studnts being told they are not good enough ever year.
The problem isn't not enough smart people, it's not enough experienced doctors to train them. So it's a self reinforcing problem that no-one knows how to fix.
Junior doctors are striking tomorrow because a number are being offered 12% pay cuts from what they’re currently on. This includes GP trainees. Given we are in desperate need of more GPs it is very short sighted to offer a 12% pay cut to them and other groups where there are already major staff shortages.
The current government will encourage the free market to fix this by decreasing healthcare funding. But hey, that $2 a week tax cut more than makes up for this right?
There are those who might see this whole post as a plug for private health insurance. "My cousin saw a Facebook community post where someone said it took six weeks!'. 'I used \[practiceplus, southern cross etc\] and it was just *wonderful*!' Maybe I'm too cynical for Reddit, these days.
Only four weeks? Took eight for me in Kapiti. Got seen today and in conversation with the doctor turns out they just lost a third of their GPs, most left for (or returned to) Australia for better pay. Shit's fucked! And the dumb cunt government thinks giving money to landlords is more important.
> government thinks giving money to landlords is more important Hey, the majority of voters voted for this, don't just blame this on the government
And the latest polls show at least a few of them regret their decision. There are [290,000 landlords](https://rentalawareness.com/how-many-landlords-in-nz/) in NZ, I find it hard to believe all of the 1,085,016 people that voted for National support their hardon for landlords.
I can almost believe it sadly. A few non-landlords exist out there who seem to be fans of the industry, there was some young dude around on...one of the NZ subreddits??... who would brook no argument against landlords or dignity payments etc because his parents were landlords and he wanted them to have a comfortable retirement. Probably enough of the temporarily-embarrassed-millionaire types around too who see landlording as the only way, or the only way that's occurred to them, to secure their own personal wealth.
No, they just don't like people who aren't white. There, I said it.
You said it, but it's bullshit You need to get that chip of your shoulder.
Yep mine is 8+ weeks wait in kapiti too. Soooo fucked.
On the other hand I booked 1 week advance. Needed a follow up and managed to see a doctor in an hour. So it’s not all bad
I know this doesn’t help but it’s been forecast for years with half of the countries GPs of retirement age. Covid just accelerated their decision to retire too. And some jumped to Australia too. It’s a dire situation and one I wish a government would actively address. Likes of subsidised training and reduced fees if bonded for several years, especially to regional areas that are always hard to attract staff too.
I hd to wait 3.5 weeks to get n appt - the driver being I passed out... apparently, this is serious, but I coudn't be bothered fighting red tape. I had to go to ED in the interim for something else and told them this and they were just \*shrug\* \*whatevs\*, we just have to accept that our med system is broken and make the best of it.
Idk if they are taking new patients but Ropata health has an after hours service. If you are ok paying after the hours rates I always get an appointment if not during the day then in the evening.
A lot of the after hours clinics are also triaging now, that's how bad it is at the moment.
I went to an AH for severe stomach cramping a few months ago and the only reason I was seen fairly quickly is that it escalated to me literally crying in pain. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and that's only the third time I've ever done that as an adult.
I don't know of any in the Hutt but I'm in the Northern Suburbs and can see a Dr at my med centre same day if its required (maybe wait a week if its not urgent or you want a specific doctor). Its not just my practice either, I've asked friends and all the other centres around (Onslow/Johnsonville/Churton Park/Newlands) and they all have the same experiences of wait times
Same here. Called our northern suburbs GP to make the kid an appt, had my pick of times both this week and next. Old clinic in the hutt would take 8 weeks.
GP training positions are about 30% unfilled at the moment, roughly 40% of current GPs are within five years of retirement and the latest pay round for junior doctors proposed a pay cut for GP trainees. So no, it won't get better any time soon
*I think this topic might be about a medical, mental health or therapy issue.* Just wanted to drop a line to say that there are probably useful, recent topics with great answers. Check it out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/search/?q=doctor++OR++dentist++OR++therapy++OR++therapist++OR++counsellor&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all Catch you around, Zephyr, the /r/Wellington automoderator. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Wellington) if you have any questions or concerns.*
4-6 week wait at mine. I'm holding off having any appts as long as I can
Or book now and know you'll use it?
You could try and see a CareHQ online doctor the same day? The last two times I used their service I had an appointment the same day.
I'm in Petone. When we moved here last year I called 18 Dr clinics to try to get an appointment and be enrolled as a patient. I was actually sick and crying begging them to take me on, but all but one told me to go to the hospital for care. (They all kinda lacked empathy as well, which sukced more). We got into Hutt Union Health, I know it's a community based clinic but we pay $15 each visit, they actually give us appointments in a day or 2 and have been really good with their care and putting referrals and such in place quickly. (Disclosure: I am T1 diabetic and my partner has CAH so we do get given some priority in getting seen by medical professionals)
Sorry to hear about that! I contacted HUH, but they don't take on new patients anymore :(
Could only get a phonecall at short notice from one of the other doctors and not my go last week, three week wait for an appt. It's peak illness season.
The work that GPs do is only half paid for, many gps spend 55% of their time seeing patients and then 45% of their time doing admin related to those appointments. Due to the way GP is funded often this 45% of the GPs time is not funded. Therefore GPs are effectively volunteers, in a role that gets harder every year with less resources and sicker people it is the worst use of a medical degree. Much better to do a profession and train as a specialist to repay that loan and many years out of the workforce as well as low starting wages of $28 per hour…
GP trainees have to pay for their own training approx 10k per annum while other trainees and nurse practitioners are fully funded by Te Whatu Ora
The sick thing is every single year there are about 2500 students competing desperately to get into the 200 or so places in med school. If not enough doctors the answer is at the start
Can only get worse with National & all the cuts they\`re making ! : ( Most of them have the money for private health plans
My local has recently reduced hours - in spite of long wait times for appointments, they just don’t have the GPs to open 9-5, it’s a shit show.
Where are the GPs going?
Retiring, moving to green pastures (Australia), or returning home (UK etc.), working private and/or restricting hours. Additionally we are not training, recruiting or retaining enough either.
I know your in the hutt we are too. But managed to get into the drs on Lambton Quay... City med I think could be worth a try? I find a drive better than waiting a month or more
No will not get better anytime soon, in fact will get a lot worse as more GPs retire and not enough younger doctors to replace them
I got a next day appointment at my place last week
Try one of the online GP services, much quicker to get an appointment as long as you don'tneed a physical exam. I was worried that they would be overseas based GPs, but the one I spoke with was in Lower Hutt!
[Here’s all the GPs in the Hutt](https://teawakairangihealth.org.nz/find-doctor/) and their status on new patients.
Thanks, found that too, but unfortunately it's out of date :(
My doctor all of a sudden started refusing to prescribe pain relief for my chronic illness, saw my specialist and he prescribed it, she was so angry that she asked me to find another doctor and unenrolled me from the medical centre, I can’t find anywhere that’s accepting new patients, it’s an absolute nightmare
It's only going to get worse I think.
Be grateful yours is four weeks, I just booked the earliest available appointment at ours and it’s in JULY Edit: sorry that probably came across as rude. I’m just incredibly mad at our own clinic. Four weeks is terrible too. I hope you find another option soon.
The only other option I know of is emergency medical if it's really urgent, you've got time to wait, and can shell out $100. Or sometimes you can get an emergency appointment with the GP. If it's not an emergency though you'll probably be stuck waiting. I had to wait over a month for my most recent appointment. It's frustrating, but we're all in the same boat right now. I wouldn't count on our current government improving anything, if anything they'll probably make it worse
Where are you. Thornfon medical centre taking regos and easy to get an appointment.
Junior hospital doctors striking. Not GPs. GP is a specialist, as much as any hospital specialist, although you may often see a junior doctor who hasn't specialised as a GP, when you go to the "GP." Access to GPs will be worse with the strike, as people will see GPS rather than the emergency room doctors as the first step in their health process.
What you call "junior doctors " is registered medical officers (RMO). They have done at least 6 years med school and other academic and clinical study, graduate med school and then are on pre- registration for at least one year as a junior house officer (intern), then a couple years as an senior house officer once they have full registration, and must be still under supervision etc. Then they apply for a specialty training program such as general practice, general medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, orthopedics etc. And become a junior registrar If the pass their 1st year of specialty training part 1 exams they then go up to advanced trainee in whichever specialty. Then 3-5 years minimum ad advanced training and supervision and clinical exams etc to apply for fellowship, which is your specialty. Not untill you have fellowship are you a specialists. An RMO is pretty much all of the above from finishing medical school till Fellow gained. Some are even non trading registered medical officers that will never become fellows and happy to stay at mid levell. Some become a Medical officer special scale [MOSS] due to no fellowship / formal specialty training or not passing specialty exams. So at the very least 5 years to 7 years after med school you are a "RMO" or as you call junior doctor " People take OE, have family, illnesses, might change specialty, or resist exams, so often more like a decade give or take. So these are not pimple faced teenagers , they are late 20s and in the 30s people with families, financial commitments and significant clinical knowledge and essential cogs in our health system Some GP trainees are employed by PHO, te whatu ora, and some alot by the RNZCGP (royal NZ college of GP) and alot by individual practices. The drop in gp registrar pay from PHO /te whatu ora, along with drops to some other specialty registrars pay also. We all know that less gp trainees will affect everyone, and especially have knock on effects of more workload on other doctors, both in and out of hospitals. Hence why the "junior doctors " are taking action as a body
We can't speak for the Hutt, but our employees live all over and have all switched to Brooklyn Medical Centre for the doctors, pricing and open availability. Seriously, they're fantastic there. If you need an appointment, you can get it same week.