Auckland GP clinic shuts until it can hire staff as practices limit new patients
The Doctors Mt Roskill in Auckland has been closed since Monday 5 October. A notice on its website blames trouble hiring staff.
"As with many other practices in New Zealand's primary health sector, recruitment is a challenge," the practice says on its website. It says it will return to Mt Roskill once recruitment has been successful.
In the meantime, its patients have been sent to The Doctors Onehunga, at 73 Church Street. According to the notice, enrolled Mt Roskill patients pay their normal enrolled rates there if they're seen between 8am and 5pm, Monday to Friday. Repeat prescription requests will be completed within three business days.
The closure comes as Health New Zealand figures show fewer practices with closed books but more restricting who they enrol, NZ Doctor reports from the latest quarterly primary care data.
Staffing shortages have also hit rural services. On 28 September the NZ Herald reported that Health NZ had frozen admissions at Dannevirke hospital while Tararua Health Group recruits staff. The Herald's headline described the hospital as "not capable of providing safe, sustainable inpatient service".
General practice funding has become an election issue. An editorial in the New Zealand Medical Journal comparing the parties' health promises before the 2026 election says the Government's Budget 2026 includes funding for 53,000 more general practice enrolments. It says the Budget also pays for more operations, hospital stays and ED visits.
Labour's main offer is three free GP consultations a year for everyone entitled to publicly funded healthcare, delivered through a Medicard. The NZMJ says Labour would pair it with a "Family Doctor Loan Scheme" to help doctors buy into practices.
The NZMJ editorial said: "Making a service free does not make it accessible without a workforce."