ProCare’s recent workforce survey reflects the sentiment felt across the industry – staff shortages and workforce resourcing issues are putting immense pressure on medical professionals trying to keep the community healthy.

The top three issues raised in ProCare’s survey of general practices were:

1. Staffing and workforce resourcing issues
2. Meeting the needs and demands of patients
3. Having access to sufficient funding.

The top issue (staffing and workforce resourcing) was the same as ProCare’s previous survey in July 2021, however, previously patient demands and funding were third and fourth respectively.

Bindi Norwell, ProCare Group CEO says; “ProCare’s survey highlighted key issues in healthcare that we have been trying to tackle for some time now. We have been lobbying hard on nurse pay parity, more funding for our practices, high needs patients, and fast-tracking residency for key healthcare workers.

“We are pleased to see a $44 million funding boost for primary, rural and community care has been announced, and 32 new health sector roles were added to the Straight to Residence pathway of the Green List.”

Dr Allan Moffitt, Clinical Director at ProCare has seen first-hand the pressures on healthcare workers, “The workforce issues combined with the complex needs of our communities means our healthcare staff are feeling overwhelmed and unsure about how they will cope with the looming winter. We are hopeful the recent funding announcements and path to residency will ease some of this burden, but there is more work to be done.

“That fact that staffing and workforce resources comes top of the list isn’t really a surprise, and in fact it echoes the recent Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) 2022 Workforce Survey highlighting 79% of those surveyed rated themselves as burnt out to some degree. Alongside this, 37% said they intend to retire in the next five years*.

“With more than a third of GPs looking to retire in the short term, this raises concerns for an already stretched workforce that more GPs will be retiring than new ones coming into the profession,” concludes Dr Moffitt.

Recently, Te Whatu Ora has been looking closely at nurse pay parity in primary care, however general practices need certainty on what this might look going forward and urgency in the decision making in order to help secure their nursing workforce for another year.

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