A 10-day wait to see a nurse practitioner or doctor and far higher charges are a symptom of the “Third Word” health service Reefton residents are having to live with
Reefton people forced to travel to Greymouth to see a doctor are being charged three times what they’d normally pay their GP - on top of travel costs.
West Coast Health is relying mostly on nurses and telehealth to provide primary care in the town of about 1000 this winter after it couldn’t recruit the locums it normally uses to staff the Reefton clinic.
But patients needing an urgent face-to-face doctor’s appointment have been paying $100 all up for the privilege.
Vicki Reed, who is 63, went to the Reefton clinic this week in agony with a bulging disc in her back.
“I’ve had this before and the specialist told me next time I’d need a steroid injection under ultrasound, so I just wanted an urgent referral back to the specialist.”
But there was no doctor available to write the referral letter and the clinic nurse told Reid she would have to go to Te Nīkau Hospital and Health Centre in Greymouth, 80km away, to see a GP.
“My husband drove me down, and I waited four and a half hours in the triage area before I was sent through to the GP clinic. I don’t blame the staff for that - they’re all under the gun - but then I was charged $57 for the referral and a script for pain relief. And that’s on top of $50 for petrol.”
Reed is on a supported-living benefit and would normally pay $19 to see the doctor in Reefton, where GP visits are heavily subsidised.
“I’m lucky I could afford to pay the $57 but I wonder how many other Reefton people are just not going to the doctor because of the cost. It’s not just the doctor’s fee - it’s the cost of getting down there as well.”
Charges in question
West Coast Health general manager Phil Wheble said last month that no Reefton patients had been sent to Greymouth to see a GP and any that were would not be charged.
Reed says Te Nīkau staff were aware she was a Reefton patient.
Wheble did not respond directly to questions from Newsroom on whether the policy had changed, how many Reefton patients had been charged and if Reed would be reimbursed.
“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention,” he said in an email. “We will contact the person involved to discuss and apologise for any inconvenience this situation may have caused.”
Nurse practitioners and GPs are still providing primary care in Reefton, either in person or via telehealth, and the waiting time for an appointment is 10 days, Wheble said.
Lisa Neil, who runs Reefton voluntary social service Who Cares, says Reed’s case is not isolated and the situation is causing serious hardship for some patients who need to see a GP in person.
“We had a family last week where the dad had a workplace injury flare up and needed his ACC form signed by a doctor, but they couldn’t get in at Reefton and they were sent to Greymouth.”
The parents waited for five hours at Te Nīkau hospital without being seen and had to drive back to Reefton to pick up kids from school, Neil says.
Petrol on top
“They eventually found a doctor in Westport who could sign the ACC form, but by this time they were nearly broke and we had to drive them over. So all up, nearly 400km and a lot of stress later, they finally got sign-off. But it cost them $65.”
The petrol bill is rising weekly as Who Cares’ volunteer drivers ferry people to medical appointments, Neil says.
“We can’t get reimbursed for the cost, and neither can the patients, though one or two have had some help from WINZ.
“So on top of these GP charges that weren’t supposed to happen, people who can’t afford it are having to fork out $50 for petrol to see a doctor 80km away. This is just not working.”
As of July 15, Reed was still waiting to hear from West Coast Health.
“I’m not so worried about the money, though my husband is, because he’s on a pension. But I’m hoping they can sort this out for other people who’ll decide to put off going to the doctor because of the extra cost. That’s why I raised this.
“I know the health system’s pretty broke everywhere but in small isolated towns like Reefton, people are more vulnerable, and it’s starting to feel a bit Third World compared with what we had.”
The Ministry of Health pays travel expenses for people to see specialists, but not GPs, according to its website.
Newsroom has twice asked West Coast Health to spell out its position on charges for Reefton patients who have to go to Greymouth to see a doctor.
Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
