A new medical centre in Greytown can’t find a doctor to run it, so some patients have to travel to other towns or the hospital to get care.

Greytown Medical has three nurse practitioners but has been struggling for six to nine months to recruit a GP.

The Wairarapa centre would care for a population of 3000-5000.

“I think we’re in a similar situation to many practices in New Zealand - there’s a national shortfall of GPs. We’re actively recruiting nationally and internationally,” said Tu Ora Compass Health general manager Mabli Jones.

The centre’s GP is due to retire this year, Jones said, and is reducing his sessions as he heads towards his retirement.

But others said the GP had sold his practice around the time the medical centre opened more than a year ago and was only occasionally coming in despite having already retired.

Jones said the three “excellent” full-scope nurse practitioners were able to provide “almost all of the functions of a GP”.

“We’re using all of our best efforts to secure a GP, but we do have a great clinical team there.”

A meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the situation with enrolled patients drew a couple of hundred people and was standing room only.

“I think [the patients] are concerned that people don’t want to come and live and work in the Wairarapa or Greytown,” Jones said.

She thought part of the issue was that Greytown was halfway between urban and rural, only about an hour to Wellington.

“If you’re going to make a decision to go rural you tend to go a little bit further afield than Greytown,” she said.

“GPs have a lot of choice at the moment.”

Local builder Jeremy Long said patients were having to wait two to three weeks just to get an appointment with a nurse practitioner, which was “unacceptable”.

“It was not a happy crowd. I wouldn’t say angry, but not happy either,” he said of this week’s meeting.

“The practice has been without a doctor for about a year. They’ve got a part-time doctor there who retired a year ago but is still trying to retire, he still comes in every now and then.”

With a new retirement village bringing more elderly people into the town, the situation was getting more dire.

“They’ve got nowhere to go and they feel lost,” he said.

“There’s nothing really much on the horizon. The best prospect they’ve got for a doctor is a virtual doctor.”

People at the meeting were told one option was for a doctor who conducted appointments by Zoom, he said.

“They’re trying to convince the crowd that ‘hey a nurse practitioner is just as good as a doctor’ ... [the crowd] weren’t really buying it.”

There was a feeling of “what are you doing wrong” as nearby Carterton and Featherston had multiple GPs at their clinics, Long said.

Greytown mayor Martin Connelly thought part of the reason was it was “no longer popular” to work at sole-GP practices as they didn’t receive as much support.

There was also an issue with GPs moving to Greytown with their partners and the partner being unable to find a job.

“Somebody’s not going to come here unless it makes commercial sense,” he said.