College of GPs Workforce Survey shows optimistic changes, but still more to be done to address core challenges for the future

As the healthcare landscape shifts to meet the changing needs of patient populations, understanding the broader context and the importance of the general practice and rural hospital medicine workforces becomes more important than ever.

Every two years The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners undertakes its Workforce Survey to gain insight into how our members who work in (or are training towards) general practice and rural hospital medicine feel about their vocations, the environments they work in and their place in the sector.

A snapshot report on key findings has been released and was shared with members in a plenary session by College President Dr Luke Bradford last week at GP25: Conference for General Practice.

Dr Bradford says, “The majority of the findings aren’t new or surprising. They add to the wealth of evidence we already have and emphasise the need for swifter action and bold reform while providing fresh insights into the distinctive and evolving nature of general practice and rural hospital medicine.

“We acknowledge the recent funding announcements from the Minister and are optimistic that the additional funding for our GP training programme will encourage more medical graduates into the workforce now the financial barriers have been removed.

“I’m heartened to see improvements since the 2022 survey on those who would recommend general practice and rural hospital medicine as careers. Responses show a workforce who value the personal connections with patients, the intellectual stimulation spurred by the variety and complexity of cases that allow them to use their full skillset and knowledge base alongside the ability to make a tangible difference to patients’ lives.

“There are, however, some concerning results around retirement, reduction in hours and intentions to leave New Zealand.”

Within the next five years 35% of GP and 21% of rural hospital doctor respondents intend to retire and 35% of 30-34-year-old GP respondents are considering leaving New Zealand, with 15% intending to leave.

“The College will continue to address these challenges, because as well as growing the workforce, retaining the current workforce – those who train the trainees – must be a priority.”

Survey findings show our members as being nimble and innovative. They continue to show resilience and have a deep commitment to their patients. But they are vocal about the challenges of navigating a health system that doesn’t recognise the value of their specialism, the workforce shortages and working within a model of care that isn’t adapting quickly enough to keep up with patient or workforce need.

Key findings tell us that:

• 43% of GP respondents were likely to recommend a career in general practice. This has increased from 39% in the 2022 Workforce Survey but is still below the 54% in the 2020 survey.
• 76% of rural hospital doctor respondents were likely to recommend a career in rural hospital medicine.
• Burnout level amongst general practice and rural hospital doctors, while still unacceptably high, have improved since the 2022 Workforce Survey. In 2024, 38% of GP respondents and 26% of rural hospital doctor respondents rated themselves as highly burnt-out, compared to 48% (GPs) and 49% (rural hospital doctors) in 2022.
• New roles and skillsets are being welcomed into our multi-disciplinary teams to address patients’ physical, mental, social and holistic needs. 
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies are being carefully incorporated into daily work to reduce some of the administrative burden that comes from managing such diverse patient loads, but concerns around data privacy, Māori data sovereignty and system integration are top of mind.

This snapshot is the first in a series of reports from the 2024 Workforce Survey data.

Read the 2024 Workforce Survey Snapshot Report.