A community support group in Oamaru says people moving to the town are having serious difficulties in getting doctors to assess health problems, because most of the town's medical practices are not taking on new patients.
Waitaki Newcomers Network co-ordinator Christine Dorsey said new residents in the town were finding it ''very hard'' to register with medical practices.
''They will go to several practices and they'll be told at each one that they are not taking on new patients.
''I just think that a lot of the practices are not taking on new people, and so they end up not actually being assigned to any particular doctor or any particular practice.''
Mrs Dorsey said she was aware of people who had experienced the problem at first hand and said the issue was a ''major problem'' for many families who were new to Oamaru.
''It is something that comes up [with newcomers] that when they come, they do struggle to get a doctor. That is something that we definitely have issues with in this town as a major problem.''
Only one medical centre in Oamaru could yesterday confirm it would still accept new patients.
Although North End Health Centre practice manager Deborah Esselink said the practice was able to register new patients, paperwork meant new patients could not always be registered immediately.
''We have always been open to take on new patients to town - that's patients who don't already have a current doctor enrolled in Oamaru.''
However, Mrs Esselink pointed out that patients could only be enrolled with one primary-care provider.
''When they come out here and fill in the forms, they are not always guaranteed to be enrolled until they are processed, and sometimes they find they are already enrolled in other practices, so they have been declined - and they need to provide the necessary documentation as well.''
Other medical practices in the town remained tight-lipped on the issue.
Doctors from Central Medical, the South Hill Family Practice and the Reed Street Surgery all declined to comment.
