The Herald on Sunday carried an article (not online yet! Wake up HoS!) by Andre Hueber quoting Dr. Tim Parke, the Clinical Director of Auckland Hospitals Emergency Department saying that he thought that “lengthening GP’s opening hours would improve patient care and free-up much needed hospital beds”. Dr. Parke advocates extending GP hours to 10pm [...]

Kapiti Coroner, Ian Smith, says the lack of after hours GP services is partly to blame for the death of a rest home patient. I don’t think you will find anyone that disagrees with him, including the GP on the Kapiti coast. But the simple fact is that there are not enough of them to [...]

One of the first posts I ever did was on after hours fees. I haven’t changed my opinion in two months (has it only been that long?). I still think after hours funding should be directed at emergency departments and that A&M clinics should be allowed to charge whatever the market will bear. However, yesterday, [...]

I read today that Auckland’s largest after-hours clinic, White Cross Ascot A&M, wishes to get out of it’s arrangement with Auckland DHB that freezes the amount of co-payment they can charge for after-hours visits. The fact that the agreement was signed in November last year and has only 4 months to run, illustrates the frightening [...]

The Herald reported on Tuesday on a Ministry of Health survey that says there is a problem of high after-hours fees After hours patients charged up to $250. I would have posted on this earlier, but apparently my site had to “propagate its DNS” before it would work – sounds nasty Doctor’s fees are always [...]