Primary Care Funding Must Be Passed On To Nurses

Increases in primary care funding must be passed onto nurses to fix chronic staff shortages so New Zealanders can get in to see their doctors, the Nurses Organisation Tōputanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) says.

The Government funds GP clinics based on the number of enrolled patients they have, regardless of the services they receive, through what’s called the capitation system.

NZNO College of Primary Care Nurses chair Tracey Morgan says a capitation increase of 4% last year was widely condemned as forcing general practices to hike their fees.

Capitation funding for this year is set to increase to 9.13% conditional on general practices agreeing to limit any fee rises to 3%, according to documents leaked to NZ Doctor. The cost-pressure uplift for those who don’t limit their fee rises will be an increase of 6.43%.

Nurses are urging primary care employers to pass this funding increase onto them via their wages, Tracey Morgan says.

"This will help stem the flow of nurses out of primary care and into hospitals.

"A skilled nursing workforce is desperately needed to keep care in the community, ease pressure on hospital emergency departments and prevent long term conditions worsening.

"During collective agreement bargaining last year, primary care nurses were 16-18% behind their hospital-based colleagues in pay. The employers told the union that if the money was available, they would willingly pass it on to nurses."

Primary care nurses will receive a 3% increase in July through their collective agreement which also gave them a further 5% on ratification earlier this year, Tracey Morgan says.

"However, this will still have them 10% behind hospital nurses with the same qualifications.

"The Government claims it is focused on shorter wait times for New Zealanders to get in to see their doctor. The ability to recruit and retain primary health nurses is vital to achieving this," Tracey Morgan says.

© Scoop Media