GPs unaffordable for many
Visits to the GP, especially after-hours, have become unaffordable for those on low or fixed incomes, Age Concern New Zealand agrees.
Commenting on the Campbell Live item of 7 March on costs of after-hours care, CEO Ann Martin said:
This includes the many older people living on New Zealand Superannuation alone. An after-hours fee of around $100 dollars represents almost a third of their weekly income, and that’s without additional transport and prescription costs.
Last year’s Auditor General’s report on after-hours services found that older people have specific problems accessing after hours care. Cost was cited as a problem, as were lack of transport, immobility, frailty and living alone.
Older people need to be able to afford to go to their GP. They also need affordable GP home visits, especially when they fall ill in the night or if they are unable to get to their medical centre. In many areas these are not available.
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