"Once it goes, we are never getting it back," Westland Mayor Helen Lash says of looming cuts to after-hours GP services throughout the West Coast.
The West Coast’s mayors are considering their next steps, after a decision was released this week finalising the move to telehealth — just one week before the change is implemented.
Primary health organisation West Coast Health (WCH), formerly the PHO, is switching to telehealth provider Ka Ora from October 1, replacing all weekend and urgent GP clinics.
Patients will need a referral from Ka Ora to see a clinician in-person at the Westport health facility or Te Nīkau Hospital in Greymouth at weekends.
Those phone consultations will cost most people $50, plus prescription costs.
For the first 12 weeks, urgent prescriptions will be filled by Westland Pharmacy in Hokitika and couriered directly to patients’ homes on Sundays.
Greymouth Mayor Tania Gibson said the mayors had concerns, which had briefly been raised at the Mayors, Chairs and Iwi Forum last week.
"Once it goes we are never going to get it back. I would have to say it has been done quickly — when you look at the gravity and the repercussions, haste has not been our friend.
"It concerns me immensely — it’s putting your right to medical care out of reach.
"We all pay our dues in life. The ability to get care when you need it should be there."
With after-hours GP clinics going, she asked what was next.
If someone had to wait for antibiotics, or wait in an emergency department, their condition could worsen.
If they then had to be hospitalised, it would cost even more, she said.
Sarah Dalton, the executive director of the senior doctors’ union the ASMS, said the health system was being understaffed "all over the place".
Buller District in particular did not have enough ambulances, only one in Westport.
"We are also concerned it will give telehealth a bad name.
"There are lots of really appropriate uses rural communities can benefit from, but it shouldn’t be first port of call."
Staff were working long hours and were burnt out, the response was to make sure they had enough resources — not to shut care down, she said.
HWC chief executive Caro Findlay said it reached the decision to change the model "after many hours of discussion with practices, partners and clinical staff ".
The solution was the best way to ensure that West Coast GP practices remained open and accessible for West Coast residents, she said.
— Greymouth Star
