‘Heartbreaking’: Patients queue in the cold from 6am to see a doctor

The director of public relations at the clinic, Lorenzo Kaisara, said the series has gotten worse in the five years he has worked there.

“The line is getting bigger and bigger and the cold is touching my heart. To see my people sitting out here and you see the majority of those who are out in the cold before seven o’clock are Māori and Pacific,” he said.

“They are already sick. They get worse sitting out here in the cold”.

Dressed in a thick winter dress, a puffer jacket and a scarf, Toa Salaina, 44, arrived after dark in her chair to make the wait on the pavement easier.

He said: “I really want to see a doctor about my back pain.

Opting in to the Ōtara clinic means that no appointment is required.

“If we make an appointment and we’re booked with another doctor, they tell us it’s full. That’s why we like to come here.”

However, Salaina says the staff is so busy that unless you arrive early, the wait to see a doctor can be up to five hours inside.

That is why we need the Government to help, to increase nurses and doctors to help people.

Greg McIndoe, 66, arrived at the clinic in a walking frame and hobbled to the line. He had just had knee surgery and was in pain.

He said it was “amazing” people had to queue in the cold to get care.

About 20 people, including mothers, children and the elderly, were waiting outside Herald he was filming, but McIndoe said the call was too common.

Often, the phone goes on the road. [It’s] just crazy,” he said.

Sonya Inifi took her place in the line at 6:15 am on behalf of her father, who was suffering from fever.

He said the wait times were “unreasonable” but it’s worse when you arrive early in the morning.

“If we arrive after nine or 10 o’clock in the morning, then you look like waiting for five hours and my father is sick.”

He said it is clear that the doctors and nurses at the clinic are under a lot of pressure.

I can see how stressed they are. Their staff (Doctors and clinical nurses) are not recognized, and have never been recognized (by the Government) for the work they do. Doctors are for our children, our people, our families. ”

He wanted the Government to take more action.

“It’s one of the key things that needs to be rethought, especially the wait times.”

Primary care is ‘on its knees’

McCann said Herald The procession outside the Ōtara clinic was a reflection of the “big challenge” the general practice is facing.

“It is absolutely painful. We do not want our patients, our community, to experience this. People are desperate for health care,” he said.

The Ōtara clinic has been designated as a “low cost practice” – which receives additional funding to reduce charges so that its clients, mainly Māori and Pasifika, can access care.

But many problems, including staff shortages, burnout, and an aging population with complex and chronic health needs, were causing serious problems.

Ambulance “ramping” – where patients are delayed in reaching a hospital bed – is considered partly due to poor access to primary care, which plays an important role in early detection of problems and prevention of serious diseases.

GPs also manage patients who require long-term surgery.

McCann said the way GPs were supported by the Government was out of date – a point supported by several government reports, including Know the Reportordered by the last Labor Government.

“Primary care is absolutely on its knees. We’re seeing a lot of clinics closing across the country. We’re seeing a few general practitioners leave it because it’s become too difficult,” he said.

“People work on their own time after hours.”

McCann says general practice is not given the respect it deserves when considering the health of New Zealanders and the performance of the health system as a whole.

He said that when conventional methods work well, they reduce the pressure on hospitals, but he said that GPs are facing “years” of financial loss.

“If we can have early investment in primary and community care and early detection, we have a better chance of keeping people healthy; keeping people in their homes instead of in hospitals.”

Last month, the Government proposed a 4% increase in the amount that the general practice paid per patient, which McCann said was “not enough”, arguing that the “significant increase” was necessary.

He said that Health Minister Dr Shane Reti had long since “signed” that he wanted to invest more in primary care but those on the front lines were yet to see significant action.

McCann felt the seriousness of the situation “beyond the minister” and urged New Zealanders to demand more investment in primary care.

He said it was “good” the Government had invested millions in funding cancer drugs but stressed it would make no difference if the “front door” of the health system was broken.

“All investment in the best cancer drugs in the world [isn’t] it will actually make a difference to patient outcomes [if the cancer isn’t picked up early by GPs].”

The National Party’s big health card before the last election was that it would build a new medical school in Waikato to boost GP numbers.

“I think we’re at a point where no matter how many new student slots there are in medical school, no matter how many nurses we train, we’re going to keep playing,” McCann said. Herald.

Doctor: ‘It’s very stressful when you see the queue’

No Herald visited the Ōtara clinic, one of its 12 doctors, Dr. Niroshika Kotte Arachchige, was called to help on his day off because the staff was overburdened.

He and his colleagues see about 350 patients a day and even with 12 doctors “it was still not enough”.

For example, today is my day off. But my list manager called me and asked me if I could help on the line because there are not enough doctors. Two of our doctors have come down with Covid,” said Niroshika Herald.

Last week, he was again called on a day off and ended up working 13 hours.

He said his nursing colleagues were also “tired” and believed that reforming primary care should be a priority if the Government is serious about reducing the burden on hospitals.

He also always did extra work outside of his regular hours.

“I usually come in an hour early to do my inbox and my paperwork. On top of that paperwork, we get a lot of [patients] they were born in the hospital to follow.”

The main thing he was worried about was his patients, some of whom had to be turned away even though they had queued up early.

So sometimes those who wait four or five hours have to go home at the end of the day without seeing a doctor.

Minister: ‘Any exercise line is about’

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said Herald the morning lines outside the Ōtara clinic were unacceptable.

“I understand that this practice may face problems in the long run, but of course that does not make the current order acceptable,” said Reti.

He acknowledged the “long-term” pressure on primary care and said solutions for GPs and patients depended on recruiting and retaining more doctors and improving pay.

Reti says the proposed new medical school will help retain more medical students in New Zealand, and in the meantime suggests greater use of healthcare assistants and technology to ease the patient burden and paperwork for doctors.

The 4% salary increase for GPs included a provision that allows for ways to increase their fees to reach a total of 5.88%, he said.

The chairman of General Practice New Zealand, Dr Bryan Betty, said the proposal “does nothing to address the history of chronic overspending”.

Reti, who practiced family medicine for 16 years in Whangārei, “really appreciated” the contribution of her former colleagues but said no Budget could provide everything. one that all teams look forward to.

Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at Herald. He won best coverage of a major news event at the 2024 Voyager NZ Media Awards and has been named reporter of the year twice. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald’s video group in July 2024.