29 March 2010
Dear Member
We welcome any feedback on the contents of the 4th issue of ASMS Direct for 2010.
1. March issue of The Specialist
2. National DHB MECA negotiations underway
3. ‘National terms of settlement’
4. Director-General position – a sad, sorry tale
5. Analysis of Ministerial Review Group (Horn) Report
6. New ASMS Health Dialogue
1. March issue of The Specialist
The March issue of the ASMS quarterly publication, The Specialist, has now been mailed out to all members. Its features include:
· The rock bottom OECD rating of the specialist workforce in DHBs.
· Devolution or integration in the primary-secondary interface (the business cases arising out of the government’s primary care led ‘expression of interest’ process).
· The case for ethical networks in DHBs.
· Minister of Health’s Letter of Expectations to DHBs.
· Dealing with coroners (Medical Protection Society).
· The National President’s column on ‘cognitive fluency – not so simple truths’.
· The ASMS-IPAC joint statement on the primary-secondary interface.
2. National DHB BECA negotiations underway
Enclosed in the same mail-out for the March issue of The Specialist was a copy of our Bargaining Bulletin (the latter sent to DHB employed members only) which outlines the approach to our MECA negotiations. Members are encouraged to read this publication.
Informal meetings have already been held with the DHBs; a series of four workshops on key underpinning issues scheduled from late April to late July; and the first formal meeting of the two negotiating teams set for 14 May. The ASMS has formally initiated collective bargaining as required by the Employment Relations Act and has also forwarded our claim to the DHBs. Please note, however, that due to the reasons outlined in the Bargaining Bulletin (largely the relevance of the subject matter of the four workshops) the claim does not for the moment include the key fiscal issues of salaries, after-hours’ call duties and shifts, superannuation and CME expenses.
3. ‘National terms of settlement’
You may be aware that the NZ Nurses Organisation, Public Service Association and Service & Food Workers Union have been negotiating nationally with the DHBs a ‘central deal’ called the ‘National Terms of Settlement’ (NToS). Along with the ASMS these are the three main health unions affiliated to the Council of Trade Unions and are signatories to the Health Sector Relationship Agreement with the DHBs and government. A provisional settlement has been reached between the three unions and the DHBs which is now out for ratification at a series of union meetings. The proposal is a 2% salary increase for an 18 month term. The actual dates of the terms will vary considerably because of differing expiry dates of various collective agreements (for example the PSA has several). The biggest collective agreement affected is the nurses MECA which expires on 31 March 2010.
There is a process agreement between the three unions and the DHBs which makes it clear that it does not apply to the ASMS. This is because our issues focus around senior medical workforce shortages in DHBs (ie, recruitment and retention) whereas the workforces represented by the three other unions in the main do not suffer comparable shortages.
In particular, the process agreement between the DHBs and the three unions includes the following statement:
The parties [the DHBs and the three unions] acknowledge that the other union party to the Health Sector Relationship Agreement (ASMS) has indicated that it does not want to be part of the NToS approach. This is understood and respected by the parties to this Agreement and, although the opportunity for them to participate will remain open, this agreement will not impact on any collective negotiations between the ASMS and the DHBs.
Elsewhere the process agreement states that the DHBs “confirm their intention…to reach settlement with other unions [ie, other than ASMS] that are no more beneficial than the terms of the NToS. The parties acknowledge the DHBs’ right to make an offer that is consistent with the NToS to any other parties.”
4. Director-General position – a sad, sorry tale
There has been much media comment on the decision of the Director-General of Health, Stephen McKernan, not to seek a renewal of his contract which expires in July. The general consensus is that this decision was in response to the lack of encouragement from the Minister of Health to him renewing his contract. This would have made Mr McKernan’s decision inevitable. The response of a wide range of sector groups (including the ASMS, NZNO, PSA and NZMA as well as the Health & Disability Commissioner) is, despite criticisms from time to time of the Ministry of Health, that Mr McKernan has been an outstanding Director-General. With the Ministry of Health going through a period of radical restructuring his experience and understanding of systems issues (second to none) will be a big loss. It seems inevitable that whatever frustrations there may be with the Health Ministry, these are likely to increase in the absence of Mr McKernan’s experience and abilities. It does have the feel of a ‘political own goal’ about it.
Compounding the sad sorry state is that it now appears that in effect the decision over his replacement has already been made with an appointment process set up simply to go through the motions. Whereas one might have thought that the government would use the advertising process to enable the greatest number of quality experienced applicants (including international) to apply, a mere three weeks have been allowed with applications due by 6 April. Further, it is difficult to imagine a smaller advertisement for one of a small number of state sector chief executive positions. It contains no information about the position aside from a website link and email address. This sad little advertisement was overshadowed in the Dominion Post (27 March) by a much larger and encouraging advertisement on the same page for the position of general manager of the MidCentral Primary Care Organisation!
5. Analysis of Ministerial Review Group (Horn) Report
Former National Statistician for the United Kingdom (and former Government Statistician for New Zealand) Len Cook and a colleague (Robert Hughes) have had a paper published by the Institute of Policy Studies. Entitled The new governance arrangements for the public health sector and the need for wider public sector reform, it involves a critical analysis of the Ministerial Review Group (Horn) Report which has provided the basis for much of the health sector restructuring currently underway.
It can be downloaded from the following link - http://ips.ac.nz/publications/publications/show/289
6. New ASMS Health Dialogue
The ASMS has published a new ‘Health Dialogue’, The Future of the Leaking Bucket. It is a commentary on the SMO Commission Report and can be downloaded from the ASMS website www.asms.org.nz.
Kind regards
Ian Powell
Executive Director
