Media Release

Loss of newly trained specialists compounds doctor crisis

Auckland senior doctors are worried about the numbers of newly trained specialists leaving for Australia, on top of the loss of experienced staff.

More than 260 senior doctors working for the Auckland District Health Board attended a stopwork meeting today and voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding a postal vote of members to decide if lawful industrial action should be taken.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialist Executive Director Ian Powell says the Auckland meeting was the biggest of the 20 held around the country to date, with more than 260 attending.

“The meeting was packed with doctors sitting in the aisles, seated on stairs – any space available was utilised. This was the biggest meeting of Auckland senior doctors that anyone attending could recall. We believe it may be the largest meeting of New Zealand senior doctors ever known.”

In an unprecedented move, senior doctors around the country have been involved in stopwork meetings following a breakdown of negotiations with DHBs. There is serious concern about the shortage of senior doctors in hospitals and the difficulty of retaining and recruiting them.

Ian Powell says Auckland senior doctors were particularly concerned about New Zealand’s inability to retain specialists completing their training.

“Auckland DHB trains more specialists than any other. Senior doctors there are concerned about the number of newly trained specialists leaving for Australia.

“They are leaving for far superior working conditions and because it is close to home. The real concern here is that these doctors are leaving with every likelihood of not returning as Australia is so close and it is easy to visit home on a regular basis.”

The meeting also passed a resolution that it expressed “no confidence” in the DHB’s lead negotiator Dr Nigel Murray. He is currently the Southland DHB chief executive and is the former deputy chief executive of Auckland DHB.

“We are coming into the final meetings, and without exception every meeting to date has expressed extreme concern about the crisis facing our public health system. Senior doctors want patients to be receiving quality care, and that is what they are taking this action as something needs to be done,” says Ian Powell.

Auckland senior doctors

There was also overwhelming support to reject the DHBs’ current offer and condemn DHBs for their failure to negotiate genuinely.

This is the final week of stopwork meetings with senior doctors from the Wairarapa DHB and the South Canterbury DHB meeting tomorrow.

[ends]

© Scoop Media