Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Bryan Betty: General Practice NZ Chair on the increasing number of Kiwis unable to access specialist care

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Bryan Betty: General Practice NZ Chair on the increasing number of Kiwis unable to access specialist care · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: More evidence this morning than our public health system not
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: cranking all that well. Study out of the University of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Targo found specialist cares becoming harder to access, specialist declining
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: more referrals from GPS risk of being declined has risen
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: more than five percent a year between twenty eighteen and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. General Practice New Zealand commission this research.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: The Chairers doctor Brian Betty is well, it's Brian, very
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: good morning to you by Mike. Just confirmed for me,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: because I've had mixed reports. Is it five percent a
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: year over those four years or five percent over those
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: four years?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: It seems to be five percent over those four years,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: but it's six hundred thousand referred to specialist service a year,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: so that's about eighty five thousand per year at this point.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: So it's large, large numbers.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: So when yeah, it's large numbers, but in percentage, five
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: percent over of four years is one point something percent
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: per year. And although if you're on the list know
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: AND's happy about it, of course, but is that is
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: that material per se and is there something going on
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: or is that just sort of statistical variation?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: No, No, it's statistically very relevant. So So the thing
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: about is that the referral have stayed static over that
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: four years at six hundred thousand, So yeah, that increase
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: is about seventeen thousand referrals declined per year, so that
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: is actually really really relevant. So yeah, these are big numbers.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: And why do they Is it the money? We can't
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: do it, or I've had a look at your case
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: and the GP got a bit over anxious here and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I don't need to see you.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: No, no, I certainly not. If you go back, we
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: had less declines exactly the same number of ferals. GPS
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: refer patients for a reason. There's a reason for doing it.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: They do their job, they decide they need a specialist
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: to have some input. There's a reason for doing it.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So GPS aren't just making this up. So no, what
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: seems to be happening is the threshold seem to be changing.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: That is, the bar to get in to see a
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: specialist seems to be getting higher. And that's based on
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the fact that there's not enough capacity in the hospital
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: system to see these patients.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So they would tell me if I asked them, I'd say, yep,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I would see you if I could. But given I'm stuck,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: don't have the staff, where I don't have the budget, I.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Can't Oh, there's been a number of cases this happens
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: in orthopedics and we've seen this in Wellington, and I've
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: seen this with patients of mind where they've actually got
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: to see the specialist and the specialists said yes, you
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: need an operation. Then the hospital has actually declined the operation,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: said no, we're sending you back to the GP because
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: we do not have capacity to do the operation. So
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the problem with this, Mike, is that everyone focuses on
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the waiting list and how large the waiting list is.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: We're not focused on the eighty five thousand a year
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: who are to be being declined and not even getting
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: onto the waiting list. And that's the hidden problem in
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the system.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And that's once again the poor old GP. Because if
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: you've sent somebody off to do something and they can't
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: do it, what do you do? I mean, you know
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: you're start, can't you.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Well, well, well this is the problem. So that the
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: problem has been pushed back to the GP, they're left
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: it managing a patient who's got a problem that should
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: be seen in secondary care. They're saying they're often working
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: being forced to work sort of out of their scope.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: They having to manage patients with increased pain medication and
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: for the patient, quality of life goes down. And we
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: know from the research they have to see the GP
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: more often. It's costing them more money, and it's just
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: a bad It's bad for the system, it's bad for
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the GPS, it's bad for the patient.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: That's thirty million on radiology from Shane Ready yesterday. Is
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: that the sort of thing that will alleviate it.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I think that's a real step in the right direction.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I'd have to sort of applaud the government for doing this.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, gps need access to things like radiology
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: in the community to do their job. It's like like
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: a builder not having a power drill to build a house.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: You can't do your job. This has been a problem
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: for years. We've been explaining to the government. This is
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: really problematic because the only other place we can send
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: a patient who cannot afford an X ray is to
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: the emergency department or to the hospital. It puts extra
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: pressure on the hospital, so we need to sort this
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: problem out. This is a really really positive step forward.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Good stuff, Bryan, you have a good weekend. Appreciate it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Doctor Brian Betty, General Practice New Zealand Chair This Morning.
• 3:55
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• 3:58
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• 4:00
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