We promote, protect and support the interests of our members in all aspects of their working lives. We are working for an equitable, accessible public health care system that meets the needs of all New Zealanders.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora is concerned that changing self-isolation rules and allowing Covid positive staff to return to work in hospitals, could encourage already dangerous levels of presenteeism and burnout among senior doctors.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says International Women’s Day should make DHBs sit up and think about their failure to address the gender pay gap in the specialist workforce and fixing it must become a priority for Health NZ.
Staff safety and wellbeing is under ongoing pressure from sustained staffing shortages. The situation is likely to worsen with expected surge pressures related to Covid and, more specifically, the arrival of Omicron. We thought it would be timely to remind members that in the face of intense staff shortages or immense work pressures, ASMS is always available to support you to enforce existing terms and conditions. We may also recommend that departments negotiate a surge or crisis agreement.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora wants the Government and District Health Board Chief Executives to publicly explain why senior doctors must experience a ‘year of pain’ before any pay increase will be considered. Last year DHBs rejected a cost of living pay claim (1.5% at the time) from senior hospital doctors and dentists and offered zero percent. The DHBs commented that doctors and dentists needed to have a ‘year of pain’. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton …
New Zealand’s understaffed, underpaid health workforce is running on empty. ASMS hit back at the Health Minister with this opinion piece on Stuff and in the Sunday Star Times.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora fully supports planned strike action by 10,000 DHB workers who belong to the Public Service Association. The workers, who include a very broad range of health professionals such as contact tracers, lab workers and technicians, have voted to hold two 24-hour strikes next month, after 15 months of failed negotiations with DHBs. They are calling for better pay along with action on safe staffing and retention. “As the union representing senior …
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton and ASMS President Dr Julian Vyas cover a few of the big upcoming developments for 2022 including the MECA, ASMS’s new Māori Advisory Committee and the arrival of Health New Zealand and the Pae Ora legislation. (Music: www.bensound.com)
We know our members are carrying heavy workloads and are battling just to do business as usual with severe staffing shortages. The arrival of Omicron is set to exacerbate those staffing shortages even further. It’s time for the DHBs and the Government to acknowledge that we have a workforce emergency on our hands. Read an opinion piece by Executive Director Sarah Dalton.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says being a better employer and addressing critical staffing shortages must be top of the agenda for the country’s new health leaders. It has been announced that Riana Manuel, currently Chief Executive of Hauraki Primary Health Organisation and iwi-based not-for-profit Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki, will lead the new Māori Health Authority, while the new Chief Executive of Health NZ will be current Counties Manukau DHB head Fepulea’i Margie Apa. ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton …
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says boosting hospital capacity and upgrading some facilities represents a much-needed catch-up in the country’s Covid preparedness, but the same priority must be given to critical understaffing. The Government has announced that 24 hospitals will receive upgrades to improve care and isolation of patients, along with an increase in ICU capacity. “The Covid crisis has shone a very hard light on a public health system which has endured year upon year …