Govt, DHBs Must Listen on Senior Doctor Crisis

Attention: Health Reporter

Media Statement For Immediate Release,
Thursday 23 August 2007

“Government and DHB Leaders Must Listen to Messages About Senior Doctor Crisis”

“The government and district health board leaders must listen to the consistent messages of the crisis in the recruitment and retention messages of senior doctors,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“Research undertaken for the College of Surgeons has revealed the need for hundreds of more surgeons over the next 20 years in response to factors such as increasing patient needs and the loss of doctors to overseas and the private sector.”

“On top of this one of our leading heart surgeons has resigned his position at Wellington Hospital, in response to work stresses, in order to work full-time in the private sector. Heart surgeons do not grow on trees. Senior doctor remuneration in New Zealand is so low that it will be very difficult if not impossible to recruit a replacement. The inability to replace a heart surgeon has dire risks for the viability of heart surgery in the lower North Island.”

“These events follow the numerous resolutions adopted overwhelmingly at our well attended recent senior doctor stopwork meetings describing the current medical workforce situation as a crisis.”

“Our public hospitals are bleeding as we lose one senior doctor a week to Australia and others to the private sector. Two things must be done. As an immediate clamp on the bleeding, district health boards must recognise the crisis and respond quickly to settling our national collective agreement negotiations.”

“Second, we must also provide a longer term solution to overcome the increasing job dissatisfaction of doctors in public hospitals. In October 2005 we proposed to the government the introduction of health professional leadership in DHBs based on genuine active engagement in decision-making. This would have gone a long way to providing job satisfaction because their experience and expertise would significantly improve decision-making. Unfortunately, despite our persistent efforts, we have been ignored. We are left largely with tokenism that senior doctors can easily see through.”

“The red light of crisis could not be flashing any brighter. Only the colour blind can’t see it,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

ENDS

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