General practitioners are feeling the strain of Covid-19 as more and more patients struggle to pay for care.
President of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, Samantha Murton says the unpaid debts that GP practices carry are steadily rising.
This is because many Kiwis can't afford to pay their GPs due to a loss of income. This means they're delaying payments or just not paying at all.
"As GPs we don't deny someone care if they can't pay it. We suck it up," says Dr Murton.
As an essential service general practices have had to keep up with tough new regulations to keep patients and staff safe. This has put a lot of financial pressure on GPs who are now adding PPE to their list of costs.
"We also had to put a bit of money in to keeping our patients safe so there's a lot of cost involved in keeping our business open."
The extra phone calls to check in with patients are often free leaving GPs to foot the bill.
All these extra financial burdens are proving to not only put a strain on GP practices but staff's mental health as well, says Dr Murton.
SHARE ME