Wgtn senior doctors say patient safety on the line

Wellington senior doctors say patient safety on the line

Wellington senior doctors say patient safety will be further compromised if the Government does not take action over the workforce crisis facing New Zealand hospitals.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Ian Powell says the resolution from about 130 hospital specialists at today’s stopwork meeting made it clear that patient safety is already being comprised and a lack of action will see that situation worsen.

“The meeting resolved that if significant intervention at District Health Board and Government level does not occur, patient safety will be further compromised as a consequence of the current and escalating workforce crisis in New Zealand hospitals.

“Senior doctors also said responsibility for this continued deterioration in patient safety will lie with the Minister of Health, Ministry and DHBs.”

The resolution, which was carried with overwhelming support, is a reflection of the huge concern senior doctors are feeling at the recruitment and retention problems facing New Zealand hospitals, Ian Powell says.

The meeting was the eighth in a series of stopwork meetings being held around the country in the wake of an impasse having been reached in negotiations with District Health Boards for a new national collective agreement.

It is the first time ever that senior doctors have held stopwork meetings.

Ian Powell said that as with all of the meetings to date, senior doctors working for Capital Coast District Health Board voted in favour of holding a ballot of members to decide if lawful industrial action should be taken.

They also voted to reject the DHBs’ current offer and condemned the DHBs for their failure to negotiate genuinely.

The next meeting are in Ashburton and Invercargill involving senior doctors at Canterbury and Southland DHBs.

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