ASMS

Doctors fear the coronavirus Covid-19 will hit New Zealand at the same time as the winter flu season, stretching health services and hospitals to breaking point. A report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research says New Zealand needs to do more to prepare for a pandemic and not rely on travel bans. Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said “I think our whole public health function in terms of epidemiology, planning, preparedness for …

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Middlemore Hospital intensive care specialist Dr David Galler sees the impact of obesity every day and believes his region has been abandoned in its fight against fat. Dr Galler and ASMS have been highly critical of the government’s decision to allow the food industry to continue self-regulating fast food advertising and have written to the Health Minister calling for tighter regulations. Read more        

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The first round of MECA negotiations has kicked off in Wellington. We have put together a 23-strong negotiating team, made up of ASMS representatives from around the country. Here’s the presentation given by ASMS President Murray Barclay. It gives a good sense of the key issues we’ll be discussing: MECA negotiation background. See who’s on the ASMS team here.

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The loss of two long-standing orthopaedic surgeons at Wairarapa DHB will exacerbate an already serious staffing shortage at Wairarapa DHB, says the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ASMS has just released the results of a staffing survey carried out in September last year which shows an estimated shortage of full-time senior doctor positions of 33%. It has been looking at staffing levels across DHBs by asking clinical hospital leaders to assess how many full-time specialist positions are needed in their …

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The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says a chronic shortage of family doctors in Northland is no surprise. RNZ is reporting that the shortage means patients are waiting up to two weeks to see a GP, while Whangarei Hospital is sending about eight non-urgent patients away each day with vouchers for free treatment at a private emergency clinic. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says it shows up clear flaws in the current model of primary healthcare. “Having non-urgent patients …

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Did you know that JCC meetings give you the chance to speak directly with your chief executive, CMO and your ASMS colleagues and representatives? Come along to the next JCC meeting and find out. We have a one-hour pre-meeting, followed by a two-hour JCC meeting. You can come to either or both.  

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The Hutt Valley District Health Board is operating with a significant shortage of senior doctors, according to a staffing survey carried out by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ASMS has been looking at senior doctor staffing levels across DHBs by asking clinical hospital leaders to assess how many full-time specialist positions are needed in their department to provide quality and timely treatment for patients. The Hutt Valley DHB survey, which was carried out between August-October last year, found an …

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Health infrastructure investment part of much-needed catch-up The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists is pleased to see the government committing to much-needed investment in health infrastructure, with many facilities and hospitals running at breaking point. The government has today announced $300 million of capital investment to be spread across child and maternal health, mental health and addiction, regional and rural service projects and upgrading and fixing ageing hospital facilities. ASMS, which represents senior doctors and dentists, says there has been …

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Peter Davis makes a number of salient points about DHBs and public health in his opinion piece (‘Loss-making DHBs need a serious re-set’ Jan 9) and it was heartening to see a new board member from the country’s largest DHB speaking up. His article stresses the need for DHBs to maximise the benefits they provide to the community – and rightly so.  However he underplays the bare-faced reality of a public health system in which DHB running costs far outstrip …

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Hollow words about coping and resilience are not only patronising but make doctors who face unsustainable pressures feel it is their fault if they are struggling, says emergency medicine consultant Shewli Rahman. I arrived for my on-call, parked, sat in my car and realised I couldn’t get out. This wasn’t a bad day, bad week, or even a bad month. I simply didn’t want to be a doctor any more. I wanted it all to stop. I had been an …

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