Pinnacle backs Waikato med school

Pinnacle is backing plans to establish the country’s third medical school through Waikato University. Its clinical director Jo Scott-Jones said the workforce situation in primary care was desperate.

“Doctors are under immense pressure, often having to prioritise their patients’ wellbeing at the expense of their own,” he said, calling the third medical school one of many solutions needed to address “a dire problem”.

Pinnacle Incorporated is the parent in a group of general practices managing the healthcare of nearly 500,000 people enrolled with 86 practices covering the central North Island and Coromandel.

The government launched a health workforce plan last week which aims to increase the number of medical school places for 2024 by 50.

The National Party has consistently supported establishing a third medical school in Hamilton and says it would see an additional 220 doctors graduating each year from 2030.

Scott-Jones says as the demand for doctors continues to rise, the burden on the healthcare workforce intensifies as professionals depart from practices.

He highlighted the potential domino effect resulting from the loss of a single general practitioner in a small community adversely impacting surrounding practices and hospitals.

“The proposed third medical school, with its unique approach to graduate entry and communityfocused training, holds the potential to be a transformative solution to the acute medical workforce shortage.”

Jo Scott-Jones