25/04/2026
LOSS OF RURAL FUNDING
On March 31, Te Whatu Ora sent us a provisional three months notice to terminate our rural contract. This is because the definition of what makes a practice rural may be changing.
This is provisional because there are current “negotiations” with primary care - however in the past TWO have always been able to make unilateral contract changes even if we disagree that these aren’t fair or equitable. That means that from July 1 we may no longer have access to rural funding with minimal actual notice.
Losing our rural contract would mean the medical centre loses many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of funding. The effect on the community would be significant if we have to scale back services.
Services that would be affected are likely to be:-
- Weekend clinics would close
- Acute clinics would be scaled right back meaning many would have to travel into Tauranga’s ED or A&M
- Fractures and more complicated wounds would have to go to Tauranga
- Dressings would be done by the District Nurses (likely further overwhelming them)
- We would no longer be able to be part of PRIME (when we respond to community emergencies either with or without St John)
- St John would no longer be able to redirect emergencies to us
- We would no longer be able to care for seasonal workers or visitors
- You would lose Ka Ora the rural out of hours Telehealth service
- We would no longer have access to NZ Locums which recruits doctors for rural practices. We would have to recruit through private agencies - at a cost of $30-50,000 per doctor. This would likely lead to staff shortages and even longer wait times
This would be terrible for our community. Terrible that we can’t provide the breadth of services that we currently do. Terrible that people will have to drive to Tauranga in a time of fuel shortages and high cost. Terrible that people might actually not seek care because it’s too hard and too costly.
We have been speaking to the media because this MUST NOT HAPPEN to our community. I am somewhat hearted by Matt Dooceys words - “Any change should be about bettering support for rural communities... no patient should be worse off due to any change. I expect Health New Zealand to work with providers to ensure there are no unintended consequences from the change.”
If this sounds terrible to you too, please write to:-
- our MP Scott Simpson (he is aware) Scott.Simpson@parliament.govt.nz
- to Matt Doocey associate health minister M.Doocey@ministers.govt.nz
- to Simeon Brown health minister Simeon.Brown@parliament.govt.nz
https://c.org/4kXyYTCbzG sign the petition to save our rural funding. Please share widely
Katikati Medical Centre has been told its Rural Primary Health Care Premium agreement may not be renewed from July.
