In Depth Reports
September 2011
Specialist Workforce Alert - Issue 3
The growing Medical Specialist shortage - the costs of the crisis
Specialist Workforce Alert - Issue 2
The growing Medical Specialist shortage - the effects of the crisis
August 2011
Specialist Workforce Alert - Issue 1
Just what is the extent of the Medical Specialist crisis?
Report of the Wakatipu Health Services Expert Panel
The National Health Board established an Expert Panel to provide advice on the future of health services in the Wakatipu Basin.
June 2011
A Public Hospital for 2026: Queenstown
Health Dialogue - Issue 7, June 2011
The Southern DHB's management has proposed major changes to the way public health services are delivered in the Wakatipu region. This paper examines the issues to date.
Did the Budget provide enough for Health?
CTU Working Paper No. 5 - June 2011
The Health Vote in the 2011 Budget was an estimated $127 million behind what is needed to stand still. While it listed services that will receive more funding, these come at the cost of cuts in other services. That is the conclusion of a comparison of the Budget with the analysis the CTU carried out prior to the Budget1 which found that $564 million was required to just keep up with rising costs, population growth, ageing and the growth in demand for health services due to the availability of new treatments.
May 2011
Bargaining Bulletin - No. 11-1
Negotiations for our third national DHB multi-employer collective agreements (MECA) have now reached a critical stage. Progress has been reported to members in the March issue of The Specialist with the front page article ‘MECA negotiations on a cusp: but of what?’ and subsequently in our electronic publication ASMS Direct. Please find attached the latest issue of the Bargaining Bulletin which updates members on the current state of negotiations and the National Executive's response to the 20 DHBs
March 2011
Poor to Mediocre Perfomance by DHBs in Clinical Governance and Leadership
Last year with the active support of the ASMS, Dr Robin Gauld (Associate Professor of Health Policy & Director, Centre for Health Systems, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago) conducted a survey of ASMS members employed by DHBs on the application of the government’s policy statement on clinical leadership in DHBs known as ‘In Good Hands’. Executive Director Ian Powell offers his observations and conclusions also drawing upon his own insights of the DHBs
November 2010
The Business Case (or Securing a Sustainable Senior Medical and Dental Officer Workforce in New Zealand)
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
September 2010
Bargaining Bulletin No. 10-2
Negotiations for our third national DHB multi-employer collective agreements (MECA) are now well underway. Progress has been reported to members previously in our electronic publication ASMS Direct. The current (second) MECA expired on 30 April 2010 but still continues in force. This Bargaining Bulletin reports on a very significant development in the negotiations which we and the DHBs have described as a ‘holding operation’.
ASMS Issues Papers
August 2010
Medical Specialist Workforce Crisis
This issues paper discusses what we assess as a specialist workforce crisis in public hospitals. It deliberately excludes consideration of government objectives for DHBs which will require additional senior medical workforce capacity.
ASMS Reports
June 2010
NZ Registrars Lost to Overseas Employers
This paper is based on an ASMS questionnaire that attempted to measure the loss of New Zealand's registrars to overseas employers in selected specialties in order to better prepare the ASMS in its understanding of the medical workforce situation in DHBs before it goes into national DHB MECA negotiations in 2010.
CTU Working Papers on Health
Working Paper No. 5 - Jun 2011
Did the Budget provide enough for Health?
The Health Vote in the 2011 Budget was an estimated $127 million behind what is needed to stand still. While it listed services that will receive more funding, these come at the cost of cuts in other services. That is the conclusion of a comparison of the Budget with the analysis the CTU carried out prior to the Budget1 which found that $564 million was required to just keep up with rising costs, population growth, ageing and the growth in demand for health services due to the availability of new treatments.
Working Paper No. 4 - May 2011
How much funding is needed in Budget 2011 to avoid the Health System worsening?
The health system needs more money each year just to maintain its current standards and services. The population increases, the population ages, new treatments become available and general costs rise, as do new technology, pharmaceutical and salary costs. If we want improvements in the health system or to address existing problems such as persistent deficits in DHBs and loss of some services, further increases in funding are required over and above these.
Working Paper No. 3 - June 2010
Did the Budget provide enough for Health?
The Health Vote in the 2010 Budget was barely adequate to keep up with rising costs and population growth and ageing, but not adequate to fund new treatments. Instead it funded increases in services at the cost of cuts in others.
Working Paper No. 2 - May 2010
How much funding is needed to avoid the Health system worsening?
The health system needs more money each year just to maintain its current standards and services. The population increases, the population ages, new treatments become available and general costs rise, as do new technology, pharmaceutical and salary costs. If we want improvements in the health system or to address existing problems further increases in funding are required over and above these.
Working Paper No. 1 - Mar 2010
NZ's ageing population & Health Expenditure
The Report of the Ministerial Review Group, Meeting the Challenge (the “Horn Report”), claims that real health care costs will increase by almost 100% in the next 20 years as the population ages “and as more of us live longer with chronic long-term conditions”. This scenario is used to argue that the only way we can afford to “meet the challenge” is for our health services to do more for less.
