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Online bookings have recommenced under the Orange setting.

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Regarding Delays in General Practice

Dear Patients

I am sure that many of you will be well aware  that Doctors and Nurses have  been under extreme stress during covid times -as indeed most of you have as well.

The changes to our procedures that have been forced on us by  the pandemic have resulted in delays in many areas including appointment time tables. The longer wait to see a GP  is a nation wide problem . There are other factors not connected with Covid 19 that are contributing to difficulty in getting to see a doctor when you want to.  These are, a shortage of doctors wanting to work in General Practice , not enough doctors  training at medical schools, and a reluctance of young doctors to work in South Auckland,  their desire to work part time and retirement of many experienced GP’s.

For example my daughter in Palmerston  North usually has to book 6 weeks in advance to see her doctor. This wait is normal there and changing doctors is not an option since most have closed their books.  My own GP in Remuera has a 4 week wait for non urgent appointments . Incidentally most inner city adult fees are double those in Papakura.

 I am proud of the fact that we have managed to keep the wait for appointments less than half of the nation average .

For those patients who are very sick and need urgent consults  we always open a number of  slots each day  for this purpose.

We apologise if the delays in getting to see your GP causes you inconvenience. I wish ,like you, it was not like this but sadly this  may be the norm in General practice  for the foreseeable future until we train more doctors.

Kindest regards

Mary