ASMS

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora is calling on the Government to put words into action when it comes to valuing frontline health workers, with Australia poised to bring in thousands of extra clinical staff. The Health Minister Andrew Little said this week that health workers should feel assured that the pressure they are under, is not unnoticed. “When you’ve been offered a zero percent pay rise, which effectively amounts to a pay cut, and no prospect …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora is welcoming the Government’s announcement to guarantee 300 Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) spaces a month for much-needed health professionals. Border closures have exacerbated problems in an already stretched health system. ASMS understood that 100 of the 250 requests made by DHBs in recent months to prioritise health staff had been rejected. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says not being able to get desperately-needed health staff into the country has been …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialist Toi Mata Hauora says endemic Covid is set to expose the long-term lack of investment and planning in New Zealand’s health workforce, costing lives. The Government has detailed how the health system will deal with the expected increase in Covid cases. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says frontline ICU specialists do not share the Government’s confidence around ICU bed capacity and there are real fears about what lies ahead. “We have been repeatedly told …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says planning for Covid boosters must follow today’s decision on mandatory vaccination for health workers. ASMS welcomes mandatory vaccination for health workers as a common-sense decision and senior doctors are actively promoting vaccination in their workplaces and communities. Executive Director Sarah Dalton says there had been some disquiet among senior clinicians about having unvaccinated staff working in our hospitals and health services. “It’s been an added stress in an already stressed …

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This year’s 33rd annual conference will be a  one-day virtual meeting on 25 November. The Health Minister will give an address and there will be an AGM along with guest speakers. You can click here to register.

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says the Government’s move to fast-track residency visa applications is a positive step, but urgent consideration now needs to be given to prioritising medical staff into MIQ. Thousands of people have been waiting to apply for residency visas since the processing of applications was paused around April last year. Figures obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act on 31 August, showed there were 675 doctors and just over 2,200 nurses …

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In July ASMS co-hosted a virtual conference with the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust to look at stark health inequities in Aotearoa New Zealand and look at solutions. Out of that we have written a report – Creating Solutions Te Ara Whai Tika which sets out a policy roadmap to health equity by 2040.

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora welcomes the appointment of one of its members to the interim board of Health New Zealand, saying the voice of frontline clinicians must be heard as the Government pushes forward with sweeping health reform. Dr Curtis Walker, who is also the Chair of the Medical Council, has been named as one of eight members of Health New Zealand which, along with the Māori Health Authority, will lead the establishment of the …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora is greeting a new plan to improve mental health with cautious optimism but warns ten years could prove a very long wait. The Government has announced a ten-year strategy – Kia Manawanui – to set goals on mental health and support the delivery of mental health services. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says the explosion in demand for specialist mental health services has deepened a crisis which requires urgent action. A …

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A difficult call has been made to hold the ASMS Annual Conference in November as a virtual only event. The outbreak of the Delta strain of Covid-19 means it is difficult to plan for large events due to potential alert level changes restricting travel and the size of gatherings.

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