Employment advice and support for salaried medical specialists and one stop shop for those seeking senior doctor jobs in New Zealand hospitals and health sector.
Latest News & Reports
27 January 2012
Vote for the bargaining fee to ensure that all those who receive the benefits of the MECA, share the cost of negotiating it.
A ballot is currently being conducted in each DHB to determine whether the DHB will have a bargaining fee for non-ASMS members or not. The ballot closes next Friday, 3 February and all employees eligible for coverage of the new ASMS DHB MECA should have received a ballot form and explanatory notes.
If you have not received your ballot please contact the relevant ASMS scrutineer from the list below.
For a full explanation of the bargaining fee it is well worth referring to the In Depth article on the homepage of the ASMS website but briefly, a bargaining fee is a legislative right to have non-union members (who benefit directly as a result of union negotiations), pay a fee as a contribution to those negotiations.
24 January 2012
Southern Cross Health Society has appointed Justin Vaughan to the role of Head of Clinical Operations. The not-for-profit Society is New Zealand’s largest health insurer with 830,000 members. Previously CEO of New Zealand Cricket, Dr Vaughan is a qualified medical practitioner, graduating through Auckland Medical School in 1991. Prior to joining NZ Cricket Justin held a number of key leadership roles in the healthcare sector....
20 January 2012
The bitter industrial dispute at the Port of Auckland has raised a number of serious issues which go beyond the port itself including casualisation, contracting out, privatisation, stability of hours of work, and adherence to good faith bargaining over a collective agreement. The Council of Trade Unions has forwarded to its affiliates a brief outline of the dispute which follows ...
19 January 2012
The new health targets announced today will assist in controlling chronic and preventable diseases, but the Government needs to broaden its focus. NZMA Chair Dr Paul Ockelford said the Government’s health targets are commendable but the emphasis on targets and throughput measures is flawed. “The health targets do not give a full picture of how our health system is performing because of the difficulty of linking these targets to information about patient and public health outcomes. We need to shift the focus from operational measures to an ‘end-game’ strategy, or in other words, defining what succeeding in health is really about.”
19 January 2012
The British Medical Association, the trade union for 130,000 doctors and medical students, has threatened its first industrial action in more than 30 years after rejecting pension reforms. Announcing the results of a UK-wide survey of members, the BMA said eight out of 10 respondents had rejected the pension proposals, which include higher contributions and working for longer. Raising the spectre of its first unrest since 1975, the union added that two-thirds of those who took part in the poll would be prepared to take industrial action.
18 January 2012
The ASMS has published a further Parliamentarty Briefing paper congratulating all new and returning MPs to the 50th Parliament and giving them an overview of current issues of concern in New Zealand's health sector. These issues include the Specialist Workforce Crisis, Distributive Clinical leadership, Privatisation concerns and DHB Funding. The briefing can be downloaded here
18 January 2012
The Government's six national health targets are being updated in the key preventive health areas of immunisation and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. These changes were part of National's 2011 election commitments. Health Minister Tony Ryall has announced, "Medical oncology is being added to the cancer waiting time target from the middle of this year. This means all patients who need either radiation or chemotherapy treatment should get it within the world gold standard of four weeks.
18 January 2012
Concern over the way governments around the world are seeking to interfere with physicians’ self governing bodies has been expressed by the World Medical Association. Among the attempts it cites are moves by the Slovakian Government to disempower the country’s physician trade union and a new Polish law holding physicians financially liable for the administrative deficits of the Polish Health Care administration. Now the WMA has raised strong objections to what it sees as the most serious example, the Turkish Government’s attempt to dismantle basic functions and roles of the Turkish Medical Association.
18 January 2012
Health Minister Tony Ryall has rejected a request by the senior doctors' union to intervene in a staffing numbers issue at Dunedin Hospital's emergency department (ED). Yesterday, the Otago Daily Times reported that ED specialist Dr John Chambers, who is also a union representative, believed the Southern District Health Board had backtracked on an additional 4.5 senior medical officers (SMOs) for the department because of lack of funds. After preparing time-consuming rosters factoring in the extra staff, senior doctors were told the new appointments were no longer top priority, Dr Chambers said.
17 January 2012
“The backtracking by Southern District Health Board over necessary increases to the number of specialists at Dunedin Hospital’s emergency department in unacceptable,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the ASMS, today. “Previously Southern DHB had approved an increase of 4.5 emergency medicine specialists. Now its leaders appear to be backsliding.”
Perspective
20 December 2011
Ian Powell, Executive Director
20 December 2011
Dr Jeff Brown, President
20 December 2011
Angela Belich, Assistant ED
20 December 2011
Dr Garry Clearwater, MPS
In Depth
THE BARGAINING FEE BALLOT (Full article)
What is the bargaining fee?
The Employment Relations Act makes it possible for a union and an employer to agree that a collective agreement includes a clause which requires non-union members who chose to be covered by the collective agreement (the MECA) to pay a bargaining fee to the union to compensate union members for the costs that they have borne throughout the negotiation.
At the ASMS conference in 2005 it was resolved that ASMS should include a claim for a bargaining fee in our MECA claims and we have done so for both the MECA that expired in 2010 and for the proposed new MECA.
In the negotiations for the recently ratified MECA the DHBs agreed with our claim for a bargaining fee. Clauses 31.2 to 31.6 of the recently ratified MECA set out the conditions for the bargaining fee.
If SMOs at your DHB vote in favour of having a bargaining fee then non-ASMS members at your DHB will have to pay a fee equivalent to the ASMS membership fee in order to be covered by the MECA. They will also have the option of opting out of the MECA coverage if they wish.
The private finance initiative: the gift that goes on taking
A British Medical Journal editorial (December 2010) on the experience with the Private Finance Initiative in the UK's NHS. A timely reminder of the pitfalls of this approach in light of the pre-Christamd announcemt by Health Minister Tony Ryall of plans for just such a Public-Private partnership for Christchurch DHB.
The Business Case (download PDF)
Jointly developed by the DHBs and ASMS, this document provides a blueprint for the future direction of a clinically and financially sustainable health system. The Business Case outlines the problem, canvasses two future options, describes the path to a sustainable future, the shape and timing of the investment needed and provides a menu of actions from which DHBs and their senior medical and dental officers can commit to make the required savings alongside a Government commitment to invest in the senior medical and dental workforce as a priority.
Read more . . .Understanding the crisis that can't be avoided: The Business Case as a blueprint for the future
Prioritisation of Medical Disciplines for funding by Health Workforce New Zealand
September 2011
This is the article referred to in Asssitant Executive Director Angeal Belich's December Specialist article about HWNZ's prioritsation of funding for RMO training.
Formative Evaluation of the Physician Assistant Trial
August 2011
This is the full report prepared for Health Workforce New Zealand assessing the establishment of the Physician Assistant Trial at Counties Manukau DHB.
Report of the Wakatipu Health Services Expert Panel
August 2011
The National Health Board established an Expert Panel to provide advice on the future of health services in the Wakatipu Basin.
Core Documents
ASMS Annual Report 2011
The Annual Report covers the full range of ASMS' activities over the past year.
Time for Quality
August 2008
The Time for Quality agreement was developed between the ASMS and the 21 DHBs with the support of the Minister of Health.
In Good Hands
Report from Ministerial Task Group on Clinical Leadership, 2009
The In Good Hands report recommends introducing comprehensive clinical leadership in DHBs (Minister of Health's Media release).
Joint Agreement between ASMS and GPNZ (formerly IPAC)
ASMS and GPNZ's statement of agreed necessities for the Health System.
Clinical Governance Development Index in DHBs
Results of the member survey as per Robin Gauld's presentation to ASMS' Conference 2010
