Doctors Relieved At End To Junior Doctors Dispute

“Senior Doctors Relieved Over End To National Resident Doctor Dispute”

“Senior doctors are relieved over the announcement that the national resident (junior) doctors dispute is over with hospital chief executives ratifying the negotiated settlement,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“We congratulate the Resident Doctors Association and hospital management negotiators for achieving a negotiated outcome that involved important compromises by both parties.”

“Hopefully managers of the Auckland hospitals will also see fit to quickly reach agreement with the Resident Doctors Association. There appears to be no good reason why this should not be achieved with common sense.”

“There still remains, however, the unresolved question of the effect of punitive student debt that is contributing to a real and potential recruitment and retention problem for doctors. This affects all representative doctor groups representing students, residents, GPs and senior hospital doctors.”

The government now has a window of opportunity to engage in constructive consultation with doctor organisations to resolve the debt issue,” concluded Mr Powell.

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