Corporate ownership of GP practices may be leading to new pressures for the clinics

Papakura East Medical Centre stopped taking new patients last year because it was at capacity, with about six-thousand patients for four GPs, some of whom worked part time.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claims the books were reopened after it was purchased by Green Cross Health.

The source claims this led to longer wait times and added stress for GPs because no staffing level changes were made.

Green Cross Health disputes this, saying the number of new enrolments is in line with clinical capacity and waiting times are comparable to other clinics.

Corporate ownership of practices has doubled in the last decade, in 2022 14-percent of GPs reported working in a fully or partially corporate-owned practice.