‘Unacceptable’ underrepresentation of Maori and Pacific GPs, ‘staggering’ gender pay gap

A “staggering” gender pay gap, burnout, and “unacceptable” underrepresentation of Maori and Pacific GPs are among the issues raised in a survey of Kiwi physicians.

On Wednesday, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) released its biennial workforce survey, conducted among 3,117 College fellows, members and associates last year.

It revealed a number of problems that GPs face, prompting the College to call for “urgent action” from the Government if “we want to avoid a community health crisis in New Zealand.”

RNZCGP president and Wellington-based GP Samantha Murton said that among them was the “unacceptable” representation of Maori and Pasifika GPs.

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GPs who identified as Maori made up 4 percent of those surveyed, far less than the national population, which is about 16.5 percent.

Pacific residents made up 2 percent of the GP workforce, while they make up 8.1 percent of the general population.

The president of Te Akoranga a Māori, the college’s group of Maori GPs, Dr. Rachel Mackie, said these low numbers stem from the “long-standing disadvantage and injustice” that New Zealand society and systems have imposed on Maori.

Mackie (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Whātua), said that policies that encourage more Maori to participate in medical school programs, such as those at the University of Otago, should be supported and valued, helping in turn to address equity issues.

“Maori succeed when there is a level playing field,” he said.

The survey also found significant gender pay disparities among GPs.

The College said that the gender pay gap for GPs (14.6 percent) is much higher than the national average, 9.3 percent, despite the fact that it takes at least 11 years of study to become in specialized general practitioners.

In 2020, among GPs working full time (at least 36 hours per week), the median earnings of male and female GPs were $ 200,000 and $ 160,000, respectively.

“It is simply amazing and unacceptable to me that our female physicians are being paid at a lower rate than our male counterparts, for the same work,” Murton said.

Individual practices establish the salaries of GPs.

On average, female physicians earned $ 25,000 less a year than their male colleagues, despite the fact that there are more women than men in the workforce.

The retention of GPs was also highlighted as a problem, amid the exhaustion and aging of the workforce.

Burnout levels among GPs and rural hospital doctors were 31% in 2020, up from 22% in 2016.

In addition to this, 31 percent of GPs intend to retire within the next five years, and 49 percent within 10 years, they found.

Rural communities are particularly at risk of a shortage of general practitioners, the survey found.

Almost a quarter of those who work in rural communities and rural hospitals are over 60 years old.

Fifteen percent intend to retire in the next one to two years, and 29 percent of the rural workforce intend to retire in the next five years.

Murton said: “The survey tells me that we have to see some significant and fundamental change if we are going to maintain the health of the nation.”

Not having enough GPs is one thing, but “settling for a situation” where the workforce is overworked, exhausted and / or retires early is “unsustainable,” he said.