Wednesday, 01 September 2010
FORMER Kawerau doctor Ian Bisset blames mismanagement by the Primary Health Organisation for the “forced” closure of his Porritt Clinic.
Mr Bisset and his wife Carol closed the clinic in July to move to a less stressful practice in Napier, leaving Kawerau – population 7000 – with one medical centre staffed by three doctors.
He fears that people in Kawerau think he has deserted them, but wants them to know that is not the case.
Dr Bisset said he informed the Kawerau PHO almost a year ago that he intended to leave within six months, saying that after 30 years in the town he could not continue working 12 hours a day.
“The understanding was that they would make an effort to get at least one and preferably two other practitioners in to town within those six months,” Dr Bisset said.
“There was also an understanding that another building would need to be considered as Porritt Clinic was too small to house the additional medical and nursing staff.”
Even before that, Dr Bisset had raised the prospect of his selling the practice, and discussions with the PHO, Kawerau District Council and MP Todd McClay were initiated – but “to no avail”.
In January, a month before his planned departure, a doctor interested in working in Kawerau was identified, but the day before Dr Bisset was to meet her, he was told she had accepted a position elsewhere.
In February he agreed to stay on in the hope a replacement doctor could be recruited.
“It was becoming apparent, however, that there was complete mismanagement of the process, with the PHO indicating a preference to simply have Porritt Clinic’s patients enrol with Tarawera Medical Centre.”
The company that had taken over the Phoenix House medical practice in Whakatane, Peak Primary, was approached to see if it was interested in extending its operation in the Bay of Plenty.
Chief executive Mark Willis visited Kawerau three times and expressed an interest in running the clinic, which included providing a doctor to work at the Norske Skog mill.
He said they tried to fill both positions without success, but did not have enough time before Dr Bisset had to take up his new position.
The clinic was closed and patients re-registered with Kawerau’s other clinic, Tarawera Medical Centre, or clinics in Whakatane and Rotorua.
Dr Bisset said his clinic could have remained open longer if the PHO had wanted, with the Tawarewa Medical Centre covering after hours until replacements could be found.
“The community has not been well served and the organisation set up to improve primary health in Kawerau has failed miserably,” he said. “Hopefully, with the merging of the PHOs in the district, better management will not allow this to happen again.”
PHO manager Lewis Martin declined to comment on the clinic closure except to say that a range of support options were presented and discussed with Dr Bisset “prior to his choice to close the practice”.
He said Dr Bisset had agreed to the plan the PHO had implemented since his departure in July.
This plan included supporting the transfer of patients to other practices and supporting the Tarawera centre as the place most Porritt Clinic patients were expected to transfer to.
Mr Lewis said they also agreed that a larger venue was needed, and could possibly be combined with other health services.