By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter
The chief executive of Auckland Healthcare, New Zealand's largest public-hospital company, won a pay rise of between 8.8 per cent and 15.2 per cent last year.
Graeme Edmond's increase may now be used by his company's nurses to ratchet up their pay claim.
Nurses at Capital Coast Health in Wellington went on strike this month seeking a 7 per cent rise.
Junior doctors also downed tools, last month winning rises of around 8 per cent nationally over two years.
Mr Edmond was paid between $370,000 and $379,999 in the last June year, compared with $330,000 to $339,999 in the previous year.
That is an increase of 8.8 per cent to 15.2 per cent - between $30,001 and $49,999.
The latest salary figures are contained in the company's 2000 annual report, tabled in Parliament last week.
State Services Commissioner Michael Wintringham has said an average 9.5 per cent rise for public sector chief executives is justified by the need to pay competitive rates to retain competent leaders. Public service chiefs received an average 6.7 per cent pay rise last year.
The Waitemata Health chief executive, Dr Dwayne Crombie, was paid $280,000 to $290,000 in the last June year.
In the previous year, his South Auckland Health counterpart, David Clarke, received $210,000 to $219,999.
Nurses have begun pay talks with Waitemata and Auckland Healthcare.
A Nurses Organisation manager, James Ritchie, suggested yesterday that Mr Edmond was entitled to "some kind" of market pay parity, but so were nurses and they were seeking "significant pay increases this year."
Mr Edmond's rise coincided with Auckland Healthcare's making a $2.2 million surplus from revenue of $585 million.
Health Minister Annette King was unavailable yesterday, but her spokesman, John Harvey, said she was taking an interest in the pay of public-hospital company chiefs.
He said the State Services Commission was investigating what the pay range should be of the chief executives of the new district health boards, which will replace the public-hospital companies.
Dr Crombie said managers in the public health sector were paid around 25 per cent less than what they could earn in the private-sector job market.
If the gap widened, the Government would have to improve job security to avoid losing staff to higher-paid jobs in health overseas or in the private sector.
Health chief's salary rises at least $30,000
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