New health model means GP visits done over phone
NEW PLYMOUTH: Under a new health care model doctors talk to patients over the phone, before an appointment is made, to see if they really need to see their GP.
A new health care system in which doctors talk to patients over the phone to see if they really need to see their GP has been introduced in Taranaki.
The Health Care Home model has been adopted by two general practices in the region and six more are looking at it, Ventures general manager strategic development Helen Parker said.
“If they go ahead that will cover half of Taranaki.”
In a traditional practice people book in on a first come, first served basis, she said.
“If you get through on the phone first then you get the appointment that day to see the doctor who will tell you to go home, take lots of fluids, and paracetamol. If you’re unlucky and don’t get through on the phone you’ll have to wait.”
Under Health Care Home, when the person rings in the morning they talk to the doctor, which is free, she said.
“They’ll listen to you and tell you what care is needed. So if you have got the ‘flu they’ll say, ‘stay home and take lots of fluids and paracetamol’. It saves people coming into the practice and it’s kept that appointment to see the doctor for someone else who needs it.”
Between 30 to 40 per cent of people who go to their GP don’t need to see a doctor, she said.
“If a patient really wants a face-to-face appointment they will be given one, but they have the option of not going in.”
The Health Care Home model will also give GPs a bit of variety, rather than just sitting in a room all day.
They see people face-to-face, manage patients by email, or by telephone, she said.
“And it’s about extending the team, putting new roles into the practice. It just creates a team approach which may be more attractive to some of the younger doctors.”
Taranaki, like other areas in New Zealand, is struggling to recruit GPs, Parker said.
In South Taranaki the number of patients to doctors is higher than average, but that is not the case across the whole of Taranaki.
And over the next few years many GPs in Taranaki are due to retire.
“Some practices will be quite vulnerable if we don’t change the working environment for GPs. The number of GPs wanting to become owners of a general practice is dropping.”
Over the last 10 years the number of general practices that are owned by GPs has gone from 74 per cent owners to under 45 per cent.
The GP shortage is mainly in rural areas, Parker said.
Locums come from overseas for a short tme, but getting permanent GPs is “very problematic”.
“Sometimes places can get GPs that want to go and work there, but they’ve got husbands or wives who have careers as well and they can’t find jobs in that rural town. It’s difficult to place a family as opposed to one GP.”
The solution is to reduce reliance on GPs and have wider care teams, such as introducing nurse practitioners to general practice and having clinical pharmacists.
“That’s what we are trying to do with the Health Care Home model.”
Ventures is part of the Pinnacle Group Midlands Health Network.
