Senior doctors say DHBs in panic mode

Senior doctors say the depth of feeling shown by their members at their unprecedented stopwork meetings today has put the DHBs on the back foot.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Ian Powell says the DHBs are now panicking and calling for arbitration.

"The DHBs have underestimated the strength of doctor feeling over the crisis facing the medical workforce in New Zealand."

The first of a series of unprecedented stopwork meetings was held yesterday (Tuesday) and will be repeated around New Zealand over the next three weeks.

Ian Powell says the meetings not only overwhelmingly gave the green light for a vote on industrial action but also resolved to send a message that the entire New Zealand medical workforce is in crisis. He says the DHBs' response to call for arbitration is pure panic.

"The DHBs were obviously surprised at the high turnout at these unprecedented meetings which overwhelmingly resolved to hold a postal ballot on lawful industrial action.

"The meetings also resolved to send a clear message to the public, DHBs and the Government that the entire New Zealand medical workforce is in crisis and urgent remedial action needs to be taken at a Government level."

"In calling for arbitration, the DHBs are acknowledging that the result could be acceptance of the senior doctors' claims.

"They are obviously now accepting for the first time that our claims are affordable. They should simply sit around the table with us and genuinely negotiate our claim in good faith..

Ian Powell says the move by the DHBs does not change the schedule of stopwork meetings to be held around the country.

"We have been negotiating fruitlessly with them for more than a year and they have had ample time to put this forward. We have mediation scheduled for August 16 th. However, we are alarmed that the DHBs' media statement says they are unilaterally withdrawing from further mediation."

Senior doctors working for the Tairawhiti DHB will stop work today (Wednesday) to consider the call to action.

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