Travelling hundreds of km to see a GP, dire shortage of doctors

People have found themselves travelling hundreds of kilometres just to see a GP for a 15 minutes consult, due to a dire shortage of doctors. Checkpoint reported yesterday that with no Invercargill GP clinics currently taking enrolments, people are having to travel all the way to Dunedin just to get a checkup. Northlanders are likewise travelling vast distances. Nathan Rarere spoke with the clinical director of New Zealand's largest GP cooperative, Procare, Allan Moffitt. When they began, Nathan wanted to know whether the situation is being caused by an influx of Covid and flu patients ... or whether this is just exacerbating existing staff shortages