Dr Salil Slias, a GP at Gore Health, Dr Patrick O’Meara, a practitioner at Gore Health Centre and Dr Nic Kagan, a doctor of rural hospital medicine at the Gore ED, have joined 30 others in signing the letter.
The group has written to the Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti to support the integration and regulation of physician associates (PAs).
The letter opposed another letter from medical groups, such as doctor unions, which suggested a pause on physician associates.
In the letter, the doctors said they were never consulted and do not agree with the ill-informed position the groups advocated.
A PA was a loose term for a person who worked in with a doctor in various roles to improve the health of patients.
The government was considering regulations around the associates’ roles but medical unions had raised concerns about the associates and their place in the medical system.
Gore Health chief executive Karl Metzler had been prominent in the debate and said last month the associates did not do the job of the doctor.
Mr Metzler said he understood how the idea of something new — PAs — did create a bit of fear.
‘‘But they are not new.
‘‘They have been around in the US since the 1960s; [they] started out at Duke University. They are 60 to 70 years old.
‘‘There are 180,000 of them in America — the most litigious health system in the world, and they have lasted.’’
Mr Metzler said the medical unions were simply protecting their patch but they had to look at the bigger picture.
‘‘We are 500 GPs short here in New Zealand.
‘‘It is going to be 750 in three years. This is an alternative as we are going to be on our knees.
‘‘The PAs have been here for 12 years and in that time there has not been a single time where there has been a health and disability commissioner or a clinical complaint against them.’’
Without them, he said, the 24/7 emergency service in Gore could not operate.
In the letter to Dr Reti, the doctors said they employed or supervised the associates working in New Zealand for the past 12 years.
‘‘We have deeper knowledge and extensive first-hand experience with the profession, these individuals, and the uncompromising standard of care they help deliver here each day.
‘‘We would have gladly corrected factual errors and obvious misconceptions among our organisations’ leadership had they provided the opportunity,’’ the letter said.
‘‘We are practitioners of evidence-based medicine, and are buoyed by decades of literature demonstrating the quality and safety of care provided by PA/physician teams.
‘‘We applaud the ministry for relying on the evidence and recognising that regulation of PAs upholds regulatory responsibilities under the law.’’
