News
Media Statements
6 August 2007
Loss of newly trained specialists compounds doctor crisis
More than 260 senior doctors working for the Auckland District Health Board attended a stopwork meeting today and voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding a postal vote of members to decide if lawful industrial action should be taken.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialist Executive Director Ian Powell says the
“The meeting was packed with doctors sitting in the aisles, seated on stairs – any space available was utilised. This was the biggest meeting of
In an unprecedented move, senior doctors around the country have been involved in stopwork meetings following a breakdown of negotiations with DHBs. There is serious concern about the shortage of senior doctors in hospitals and the difficulty of retaining and recruiting them.
Ian Powell says
“Auckland DHB trains more specialists than any other. Senior doctors there are concerned about the number of newly trained specialists leaving for
“They are leaving for far superior working conditions and because it is close to home. The real concern here is that these doctors are leaving with every likelihood of not returning as
The meeting also passed a resolution that it expressed “no confidence” in the DHB’s lead negotiator Dr Nigel Murray. He is currently the Southland DHB chief executive and is the former deputy chief executive of Auckland DHB.
“We are coming into the final meetings, and without exception every meeting to date has expressed extreme concern about the crisis facing our public health system. Senior doctors want patients to be receiving quality care, and that is what they are taking this action as something needs to be done,” says Ian Powell.
There was also overwhelming support to reject the DHBs’ current offer and condemn DHBs for their failure to negotiate genuinely.
This is the final week of stopwork meetings with senior doctors from the Wairarapa DHB and the South Canterbury DHB meeting tomorrow.
