Media release

From: Study authors

A new study highlights ongoing challenges in seeing primary health care professionals (general practitioners and primary care nurses) with 36% of general practices in 2024 not enrolling any new patients at all, also known as “Closed Books” . This is a slight increase from 33% in 2022, despite reduced COVID-19 pressures and open borders allowing recruitment of healthcare staff.

Districts most affected include the lower North Island, Northland, and parts of the South Island, resulting in patients facing longer travel times and costs to reach an enrolling general practice.   As general practices reach capacity, then waiting times for consultations increase. Long waiting times were reported as a problem for 26% of people in the New Zealand Health Survey 2022/23. While some districts, like Taranaki and Whanganui, showed improvements between 2022 and 2024, others, such as Lakes and Northland, saw more general practices closing their books.

Closed Books practices limit access to essential healthcare for unenrolled patients, who are more likely to experience poor health outcomes or rely on emergency departments for conditions that could be treated by primary care staff closer to home.  

One of the authors of the papers,  Dr Jackie Cumming said “Making timely access to general practices available for all New Zealanders is important as it supports delivery of services such as immunisation and screening, and is a key gateway to medicines as well as hospital level investigations and treatments.”  

Another author, Dr Megan Pledger said “The aim has been to deliver more health services closer to home, yet the focus appears to be on hospital services.”

Researchers call for urgent attention to address workforce shortages and increasing workloads in general practices. Improving enrolment opportunities is critical to ensuring fair and equitable access to primary healthcare for all New Zealanders.