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New Zealand rural health is in crisis. Many rural general practices are closing their doors or relying heavily on short-term locums. There was public outrage when general practices in Northland closed their books, but this is what more of rural New Zealand will face if swift and ongoing action is not taken. In the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 2018 survey, 39% of rural respondents worked in a practice with an unfilled vacancy, and 36% of rural general practitioners intended to retire in one to five years. In addition, it showed that rural general practitioners are more likely to do on-call and unpaid work than their urban counterparts.