A former staff member at a Lower Hutt GP practice with 9000 patients and only one doctor says pressure on staff to see patients fast led to mass resignations.
High Street Health Hub has had to stop doing face-to-face consultations, except in urgent cases, and relies on telehealth to provide care to its frustrated patients, who say they have been unable to enrol elsewhere as other local practices have closed their books.
The clinic's owner, Green Cross Health, said in a statement it had lost three to four GPs in the past 12 months, but there had been "no change to the local management of the practice" after it took on the clinic, and it was focused on rebuilding the team.
"We are seeing that it's harder to recruit and retain doctors and nurses due to the current funding model not being able to compete with the more desirable terms and conditions that are being offered overseas," its national operations manager for medical Andrew Tucker said.
"We are providing virtual GP and nurse consultations through our national virtual care team, which consists of Specialist GPs, emergency-trained specialists, nurses, and healthcare assistants."
But a former staff member, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the practice had grown fast and taken on large numbers it did not have the capacity to manage, even before the change of ownership.
Several doctors left because of the pressure, they were forced to see many patients, often new ones with complex needs, in a short timeframe, they said.
One patient spoken to by RNZ, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said her father in end-of-life care had no permanent doctor, and was unable to get into another clinic.
"I honestly would have thought that a man with kidney failure, on dialysis, with nerve damage throughout his body to the point he can't walk anymore... would be high priority," she said.
Her father waited days for pain medication. "In the end he had to go [to the hospital], he was rocking back and forth in pain, crying.
"We are slowly progressing a day at a time... But it's more of a breath at a time, because who do we go to when he needs help?"
Another patient, Annette Campbell-Orpin, said her family had waited eight weeks to see a doctor.
When her husband needed a medical certificate, he ended up going through an online surgery to find a doctor in another part of the country, with no idea of his medical background.
She said they would love to join a new clinic, but everywhere else was full.
"Kids are missing out on getting their immunisations on time, they're being referred to other places... we had an email come through about a month ago saying they're working with - not merging, but working with - Silverstream Medical Centre so that they can get us seen a little bit more quickly.
"No one can get into the actual medical centre in the Hutt. It's almost like the doors are locked and nobody's home," she said. "If you want to actually speak to someone, the phone just rings."
Wainuiomata resident Emily said she had booked an in-person appointment six weeks ago, only to find out the week of her appointment it had been cancelled.
When she called to confirm the time, she was told her doctor had resigned, and it had been rescheduled with another doctor who had then also resigned.
Hutt South MP Chris Bishop said he had raised concerns with the regional health provider after receiving a number of messages from his constituents in recent weeks.
"There are ongoing discussions between the regional public health network and Green Cross around this. I don't want to get ahead of that, but I have made it very clear my displeasure and anxiety."
RNZ
