Political Dumping on Surgeon Leader for Inconvenient Truth

MEDIA STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,
THURSDAY, 28 MARCH 2013

“Political Dumping on Surgeon Leader for Inconvenient Truth Unfair and Unacceptable”

“The political dumping on a surgeon leader for reporting an inconvenient truth to general practitioners is both unfair and unacceptable,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

Mr Powell was referring to the claims of Health Minister Tony Ryall and Nelson Marlborough Chief Executive Chris Fleming that the letter from the DHB’s head of the general surgery service Adrian Secker (surgeon) to general practitioners in the region advising of the difficulties of meeting increasing government requirements for elective (non-urgent) operations because of lack of capacity was inaccurate.

“Mr Secker was asked by management to write to GPs advising of them of the situation as he was the DHB’s expert, GPs needed to know, and it makes good sense for GPs to get the message from the head of surgery rather than a manager.”

“His letter to GPs was dated 3 March and management received a copy at the same time. If the letter was inaccurate why did management not say so then, issue a correction or withdraw the letter? Why did the letter only become inaccurate nearly four weeks later (on 27 March)? Was it the fact that it became public on the day that magically made it inaccurate?”

“As the funder and user of public hospitals the public needs to know that hospital specialists and other health professionals can tell the truth based on their experience and expertise rather than be dumped on from above when the truth is inconvenient. The public don’t need an environment which intimidates them from telling the truth.”

“This action follows on from the threatened disciplinary action against a Dunedin Hospital emergency medicine specialist for telling the truth over staffing shortages at their emergency department.”

“Regrettably the dumping down on a DHB’s surgical leader reinforces the view of those that believe that there is a culture of intimidation and threats in the public health system,” concluded Mr Powell.

ENDS

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