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Media Statements

5 January 2007

Senior doctors concerned that Otago DHB may have predetermined position over emergency department

“We are concerned that the Otago District Health Board may have a predetermined position over Dunedin Hospital’s emergency department and that the supposed consultation process is a farce,” said Mr Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, today.

“We believe that the DHB’s proposal to merge in general practitioner after-hours services with Dunedin Hospital’s emergency department is a backdoor attempt to sort out its funding dispute with GPs over after-hours care and to introduce patient charges for hospital treatment.  The DHB has not helped the situation with the deterioration in its relationships with GPs.”

“The evidence is clear that overwhelmingly patients who turn up at the emergency department seeking care have made the correct clinical decision.  Inappropriate arrivals are a very small number.  They are not the source of the resourcing difficulties facing the emergency department.”

“Under its current leadership the Otago DHB has a poor track record over consultation with senior doctors and other health professionals and it is continuing its poor form with the hospital emergency department,” concluded Mr Powell.

Ian Powell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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