The Government's voluntary bonding scheme for health professionals has been welcomed by those in the sector, but there is caution against seeing the programme as the only answer to staff retention issues.
The health professionals' package was one part of the Government's bonding announcements yesterday. It will also apply to teachers and veterinarians in certain areas.
Under the scheme, students can opt to be bonded for five years and in return get loan repayments, or cash if they did not have a loan.
The first payout would not be given until they had been in the scheme three years. The final two years would be paid out annually. Southland is among the geographical areas listed as having critical shortages.
Otago University Medical Students Association president Danielle Gelbart said there was some excitement among her peers about the scheme. It applied to a range of locations and specialties which added to its appeal.
Studies had shown that the level of debt was a big influence in graduates' choice of where to work.
The average debt was about $80,000.
Rural General Practice Network chairwoman Kirsty Murrell-McMillan welcomed the package, also praising its flexibility.
It was not the whole answer, however, and issues such as rural after-hours services, were still to be adequately addressed in some areas, including Otago and Southland, she said.
College of GPs president Jonathan Fox said it was another step towards alleviating the national shortage.
"The voluntary bonding scheme recognises that GPs are central to a robust New Zealand health system," Dr Fox said.
"We welcome this as one more strategy towards building a strong primary care workforce, including enough GPs for all Kiwis right around the country."
The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) said it welcomed the scheme but was concerned it was limited to graduates working in theatre, intensive care and cardiothoracic nursing.
"The fact is we have a real problem retaining our graduates right across the spectrum of nursing," said NZNO president Marion Guy.
"We would prefer to see the scheme open to every graduate who establishes their nursing career in New Zealand, not just a targeted few."
Massey University, the only provider for veterinary science, said the scheme was a good start to dealing with the shortage of rural vets.
"It's not the answer in isolation but we have worked closely with the Government to develop the scheme," Prof Grant Guilford, head of the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, said.
However, Society of Physio-therapists president Jonathan Warren was disappointed and said young physiotherapists should have the same encouragement as young doctors and nurses to work in hard-to-staff areas
Key facts:
Under the scheme students can opt to be bonded for five years and in return get loan repayments, or cash if they did not have a loan. The first payout would not be given until they had been in the scheme three years. The final two years would be paid out annually.
Health professionals.
* Student loan debt write offs and cash incentives for doctor, nurse and midwife graduates who work in areas with critical shortages.
* 100 doctors and 250 midwives and nurses expected to take up scheme in its first year with similar numbers added annually.
* A transition phase will allow graduates who have graduated since 2005 to be included. Doctors who graduated last year would have to work in hard-to-staff hospitals for two years and in the third year a hard-to-staff specialty; training for that could be done elsewhere than an area covered by the scheme.
* Doctors would get $15,873 a year before tax, midwives $5224 and nurses $4229.
* The scheme would cost $7 million in 2011-12 and $10 million a year after that.
* Health professionals are needed most in provincial and rural areas. Midwives are also needed in Auckland and Wellington.
Doctor specialties required are GPs, general surgeons, internal medicine physicians, psychiatry and pathology.
Nurses specialties needed are theatre, intensive care and cardiothoracic.
Teachers:
* 1800 teachers are expected to take up the scheme in the first year and 450 a year will be eligible after that.
* Teachers will be paid $3500 a year if they work in identified schools or subjects. It will go to pay student loans or cash for those who do not have that debt.
* The scheme will apply to the more 380 either decile 1 or isolated schools and to certain subjects like chemistry, physics, mathematics and Maori language. There are more than 380 schools that are decile 1 or are isolated.
* The scheme is expected to cost $19m over three years from 2011-12 when the first payments are made.
Veterinarians
* Vets in the scheme will get $11,000 a year before tax.
* It is targeted for vets in livestock industries.
* Regions targeted are rural Gisborne, Wairoa, Central Hawkes Bay, Tararua, Buller, Grey and Westland, Southland and Gore.
* The scheme is expected to cost $1.32m in 2012 and $1.76m in 2014.
* About 40 vets were initially expected to participate. - With NZPA
