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18 Viral video still a tough watch Vol 21 No 14, April 17, 2023
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Rural health at point of collapse Neal Wallace
NEWS
R
Health
URAL health services are collapsing, the body representing the sector warns. “It is not too dramatic to say we are seeing a collapse of health services in rural areas,” Fiona Bolden, Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network chair and a general practitioner at Whangamatā said. Bolden said the rural services are struggling with a shortage of health professionals, an ageing workforce and a lack of access to diagnostic services. In addition, rural health providers are struggling to provide emergency and afterhours care, the management of complex health conditions, rural hospitals are under pressure and access to diagnostic services is limited. She said recent workforce surveys by the Royal College of GPs confirm the network’s concerns. They reveal that the median age of all GPs is 52 with 14% over 65, of whom a disproportionate number work in rural practices. Overall, a third of GPs intend to retire within five years and 50% within 10 years, but that metric is more stark in rural areas, where 46% of Northland GPs and 57% in South Canterbury intend retiring within five years.
“In some areas it is impossible for people to register with the general practice when they move to a rural area,” Bolden said. Four in five rural doctors say they have suffered burnout to some degree. The rural sector relies heavily on foreign-trained GPs, with 83% gaining their first medical degree overseas compared to 35% of those working in urban practices. The lack of GP cover is leading to afterhours care being unavailable in some rural areas, requiring patients to travel to a hospital. Bolden said few young people are training to be GPs with even fewer intending to move to rural practices. Overseas evidence is that those raised in rural areas and exposed to rural health services while training are more likely to return there to work. “It’s about the whole pipeline and it goes back to school and exposing rural pupils to science and encouraging them to pursue careers in health.” Solutions are complex and not solely the domain of the government. The network visits rural schools to promote health sector careers but Bolden said those efforts would benefit from support such as scholarships and placements in rural practices and hospitals. Continued page 3
Steppe up for Mongolian shepherds Budee, Baaska and Ama, pictured at a recent Surfing for Farmers event in Raglan, will soon head home to Mongolia after spending three months working with New Zealand shearing gangs.
PEOPLE 4
Pasture management made smarter with AI Manawatū farmer Shane True, right, pictured here with Jeremy Bryant from Aimer, says technology is a vital means to attracting and keeping young staff in a tight labour market.
TECHNOLOGY 19 Capacity and labour issues mean dairy farmers should expect delays in bobby calf collections come spring.
Horticultural czar Lain Jager says global megatrends currently present a huge opportunity for avocados.
Farmers worrying about ‘carbon leakage’ could benefit from playing a long game, say Lincoln researchers.
NEWS 7
MARKETS 13
OPINION 17
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