New Zealand’s GP System at Risk of Collapse, Report Says

A study of the primary care sector by the New Zealand Initiative says it is facing ’mounting pressures that threaten its sustainability.’

A doctor who works in hospitals as a locum both in New Zealand and Australia pictured in her hometown of Hamilton, New Zealand, in 2004. Phil Walter/Getty Images

A new report focusing on New Zealand’s primary care sector—general practitioners (GPs) and their surgeries—warns the sector is at “a critical juncture” and facing “mounting pressures that threaten its sustainability and effectiveness.”

It was authored by Dr Prabani Wood, a research fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, who spent 15 years as a GP with around 8,500 patients before turning to research work.