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Raising salaries not the answer to recruiting GPs to small towns, says doctors' group

January 22, 2018

Dalton Kelly of the NZRGPN said about 50 towns are currently looking for a long term doctor.

Rural towns are struggling to retain long term doctors, as 50 towns currently are on the look out for permanent GPs. 

Dalton Kelly of the New Zealand Rural Practice Network (NZRGPN) told TVNZ1's Breakfast today the sector need to find a mechanism to get doctors from the cities out the rural communities.

"Communities with less than 15,000 people trying to attract a long term doctor to that kind of community is a big exercise," he said. 

He said NZRGPN recruit overseas doctors to small New Zealand communities with many staying long term. They have attracted and retained 70 in the last six months. 

However Mr Kelly referred to it as a "very good short term measure, but the real answer is to grow our own and to make New Zealanders move to rural communities because they want to go there". 

He said the downside of not having a long term doctor was not having an ongoing relationship with the local residents. 

"Ninety per cent of New Zealanders go to their GP as a first point of call when they're not feeling well and it's nice to have a relationship long term," he said. 

Raising salaries is not a long term solution, Mr Kelly said, but suggested the government continue initiatives such as making sure rural students go to medical school. 

He said if people come from a rural settlement they are more likely to go back and work in that community.

"We need to ensure the brightest and best of young students from rural colleges get into med school."

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