Northlanders are at breaking point over what they say are unacceptable waiting times to see a GP.  

Most medical centres are so stretched they cannot accept new patients, and many have a two-week wait for appointments.

People have become so frustrated,they go the hospital ED for treatment.

Miriam Burgess-Payne is a teacher and mother of two, and is so frustrated by the situation she has launched a petition. 

She told Heather du Plessis-Allan that trying to get appointments for her family has been her major frustration. Her parents in their 70s moved to the area, and she tried to find them a GP in the area.

"I found that was impossible. They were having to travel a fair distance to get into a GP that could accept them."

Dr Jan White, chair of the New Zealand Medical Association, says this highlights the ongoing failure to invest in general practice services.

"I think there's been that lack of support, the lack of recognition of the importance of general practice, the lack of respect for general practice, and I think we really need to up the game there."

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