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Hauora Taiwhenua Applauds Coalition Government’s Progress in Developing a Third New Zealand Medical School Focussing on Producing Rural Doctors

Hauora Taiwhenua expresses its support for the Government’s signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Waikato to establish a third medical school focussing on developing rural doctors.

Health on the Road: Navigating Rural Communities in Tasman and Marlborough – A Rural School Visit reflection.

One van, six health care students and 1,496 kilometres travelled through Tasman and Marlborough - what could possibly go wrong? Turns out one COVID case sending our seventh member into isolation and one lost room key was all the adversity we faced on this trip. Incredible planning by the Hauora Taiwhenua team and a lovely group of students made our biggest issue deciding what to have for dinner. This reflection will look at the five days we spent on the road travelling to rural communities of the Nelson region and the highs and lows of our experiences.

Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Student Research Scholarship winners announced

Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network is pleased to announce the winners of the three Rural Student Research Scholarships for the 2023/24 year. Two of the Scholarships were to support health students to support a 12-week elective/studentship, and/or research placement within a rural community of the student’s choice. A BNZ Rural Development scholarship was also available to any year two and above Medical Student for the same period. Read below for the three recipients for the 2023/24 year, with a summary of the research that they each will be undertaking below.

Election 2023

We have a new Government in waiting as we mark time until the special votes are notified on November 3rd, and then the negotiations truly start among National, ACT and New Zealand First. It is really too early to tell what the new coalition will bring to health as the potential coalition partners have different and sometimes contrasting policies on how they pledged to ‘fix’ the broken system. These potential fixes included more training places, a potential third Medical School based in the Waikato focusing on rural GP, pay parity for nurses and others, increased capitation rates, consideration of the recommendations in the ‘Sapere Report’ on primary care funding, and much more. Any coalition involves compromise, and we have seen new Governments in the past discard pre-election pledges, using the excuse that they were left with fiscal conditions much worse than anticipated.

Bridging Communities: Empowering the Future of Rural Healthcare

Earlier this year, Beth Hines, 3rd year AUT Paramedicine Student, volunteered for Hauora Taiwhenua’s Rural Health Careers Promotion programme. Beth's passion for rural healthcare was ignited during her attendance at the Rural Health Interprofessional Programme in Greymouth. Today, she is employed as a paramedic intern with Hato Hone St John, a direct outcome of her active participation in these initiatives and the meaningful relationships she cultivated.

Relocation Funding extended to include community-owned rural hospitals

Communication for General Practices and Doctors regarding Te Whatu Ora's International Recruitment Campaign  Recently Hauora Taiwhenua, supported by GPNZ, successfully advocated for a financial relocation incentive for international General Practitioners coming to work long-term in rural practices throughout New Zealand, with Te Whatu Ora.   Rural relocation funding was initially only available to support the recruitment of international General Practitioners applying to work in rural primary care practices, which excluded those working in community-owned rural hospitals. 

Communication for General Practices and Doctors regarding Te Whatu Ora’s International Recruitment Campaign 

Recently Hauora Taiwhenua, supported by GPNZ, successfully advocated for a financial relocation incentive for international General Practitioners coming to work long-term in rural practices throughout New Zealand, with Te Whatu Ora.

Rural relocation funding was initially only available to support the recruitment of international General Practitioners applying to work in rural primary care practices, which excluded those working in community-owned rural hospitals.

We are delighted to announce that funding has now been extended to include community-owned rural hospitals.

“This news will be extremely well received by our rural hospitals who continue to deliver services to rural communities despite work-force shortages.” says Dr Grant Davidson.

The relocation fund initiative is open and closes on 30th June 2024.   The funding is available to support internationally recruited GPs who take up a new position and/or sign an employment agreement with an eligible rural primary care provider between 1 September 2023 to 30 June 2024 (inclusive).

Dr Davidson says “This funding initiative, offering up to $20,000 (plus PAYE and 1.53% ACC Levy) paid in two lump sums over a two-year bonding period for each eligible internationally recruited GP into an eligible rural primary care provider, is a real and tangible boost to the sector.  Heavily incentivised recruitment campaigns in other countries, in particular our closest neighbour Australia, have been a concern to us over many months.”

Te Whatu Ora encourages any rural primary care provider looking to recruit an international GP to visit their website for more information on how to access the funding and eligibility criteria.

While we continue to work to train our own sustainable, highly skilled, multi-disciplinary rural health workforce, we are grateful to the management at Te Whatu Ora who were open to listening to, and acting on, our concerns about incentivising overseas doctors to come and work in rural New Zealand to help ease the stress felt by those practices.

 

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