ASMS

Crop yields are declining. Tropical diseases like dengue fever are showing up in unfamiliar places, including in the United States. Tens of millions of people are exposed to extreme heat. These are the stark findings of a wide-ranging scientific report that lays out the growing risks of climate change for human health and predicts that cascading hazards could soon face millions more people in rich and poor countries around the world. The report, published Wednesday …

Read more »

Two senior health professionals are urging colleagues and the wider health sector to take a lead in the fight against climate change. Counties Manukau District Health Board intensivist Dr David Galler and CMDHB anaesthetist Dr Rob Burrell gave a presentation today at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) annual conference in Wellington. “If the health care sector is to play its part helping the nation become net carbon neutral by 2050, we need policy changes to ensure that our …

Read more »

The Government has been called on to instruct DHBs to appoint more gastroenterologists, with an “unmanageable” increase taking demand for their services to an all-time high. A crisis affecting gastroenterology includes a 3000-patient waiting list at Middlemore Hospital, and bowel screening placing a “terrible strain” on doctors and nurses with clinical concerns for some patients, says the New Zealand Society of Gastroenterology. The society’s immediate past president, Michael Schultz, says more specialist nurses should be trained to take some of the gastroenterologists’ workload. Combination of stressors Enormous pressure on the workforce comes from New Zealand’s …

Read more »

Senior female doctors in New Zealand say they are often mistaken for nurses because patients still “expect to see a man”. That’s according to research by Dr Charlotte Chambers, principal analyst for the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) – the senior doctors’ and dentists’ union. Chambers carried out a qualitative study of 14 senior female doctors in their 30s, from a range of specialities across New Zealand. What she heard highlights the “big problem of gender bias” in medicine, Chambers said. Chambers, who is …

Read more »

Research carried out by the union for senior doctors and dentists has revealed a need for both attitudinal and structural change to encourage more women to participate in the specialist workforce. The study conducted by Dr Charlotte Chambers, Principal Analyst at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), involved in-depth interviews with 14 female specialists across a range of specialities. The interview subjects were all aged in their 30s, some of whom were experiencing burnout. This research was prompted by …

Read more »

OPINION: The Treasury made major changes to its recruitment strategies a few years ago, downplaying the recruitment of economists. With the Treasury running the ruler over current pay demands in the rest of the public sector, have they been equally tough on themselves? Treasury now recruits analysts, rather than economists. What’s more, blind recruitment is used in graduate recruitment. Applications are stripped not only of gender but of all academic qualifications. Nothing is known to recruitment panels other than that the applicant …

Read more »

The union for senior doctors and dentists is welcoming news of a significant pay rise for thousands of hospital service workers. “These employees contribute to the smooth running of our hospitals, ensuring they are clean, safe places for patients,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). “Our public hospitals are not just about doctors and nurses, and ASMS members will be pleased that the important work that hospital service workers do is being recognised. …

Read more »

ASMS: Are there similarities between the teaching profession’s precarious state and medical and dental professionals in district health boards?    OPINION: Primary teachers and principals are united in their urgency to address the crisis that is happening in our education system. I have taught in North Canterbury for more than 20 years and have been a principal for 10 of these. I genuinely fear for the future of teaching as an occupation. It has never been this tough before. The …

Read more »

Middlemore Hospital says it has done well from a government funding boost of $80 million, despite the Counties Manukau District Health Board estimating a year ago it needed more than $1.6 billion to upgrade all its facilities. The funding will be put into four projects at the south Auckland hospital and the Manukau Superclinic. The $80 million compares to earlier funding announcements for other DHBs – Auckland Hospital got more than three times that amount, and North Shore $200 million. …

Read more »

Middlemore Hospital’s latest cash injection won’t fix all its rotting buildings and it pales into comparison with what other district health boards in Auckland have got. Yesterday the government announced that Counties Manukau DHB would get $80 million to start fixing its building and infrastructure problems. RNZ reporter Phil Pennington asked the DHB’s chair, Mark Gosche, whether that would make much of a difference, given previous estimates that up to $1.6 billion is needed to get the hospital up to …

Read more »