Doctors are bound to command attention when they talk of their plight. The public has a clear vested interest. When doctors on duty in public hospitals work long hours, it is harmful not only to them but to their patients. Thus there is a natural reservoir of sympathy for junior doctors who complain that staff shortages mean they commonly work more than the maximum standard of 72 hours a week. The well, however, begins to run dry when those doctors ask for a 20 per cent pay increase and are prepared to strike in support of that demand.
The responsibilities and strains imposed on doctors as they find their professional feet have been an issue for decades. Solutions based around reduced working hours have proved elusive. This time, the junior doctors appear to regard a very large pay rise as the cure for their ills. In many areas, they have rejected a 9 per cent increase over two years.
If they feel emboldened, it is because the flight of doctors abroad threatens to make them a scarce commodity. Statistics presented by the Resident Doctors Association make alarming reading. Of about 1800 jobs for junior doctors nationwide, there are up to 200 vacancies. Even Auckland's normally fully staffed hospitals have vacancies. For many, the lure of Australia, where pay rates are 50 per cent higher and hours of work are fewer, has proved irresistible.
Such a brain drain is neither exclusive to junior doctors nor a new phenomenon. And it is unrealistic to assume that a 20 per cent pay rise would magically plug the drain. If granted, an increase of that magnitude would have far-reaching implications. Most fundamentally, junior doctors would be taking money intended for health services. The public would be the loser.
Other workers in the health sector, indeed, throughout the public service, will also be keenly interested in the extent of the junior doctor's pay increase. It will set a precedent. Never mind that the Reserve Bank Governor has already issued a warning intended to limit wage rises. Perhaps it is little wonder that the Education Minister has seen fit to call the junior doctors the country's "most militant trade union."
It might also have been tempting for Trevor Mallard to mention the valley of plenty awaiting doctors once they have scaled the arduous peaks of their youth. Even in the public sector, specialists can earn more than $200,000 a year.
The junior doctors want to smooth their passage to that valley through a more rapid salary progression when they pass exams. The bulk of their demands, however, involve increased pay, rather than an attempt to limit their hours of work. A more logical approach to their plight would address both concerns. in an even-handed manner.
Doctors, of course, can never expect to work a 9-to-5 day. As with many occupations, they must endure long hours when required. It seems unreasonable, however, to expect them to work more than 60 hours a week because of staffing shortages. The solution lies both in reducing the loss of junior doctors to overseas hospitals and in attracting sufficient immigrants to replace those who leave. Already, attempts are being made to attract British doctors. New Zealand has temptations enough to lure skilled people, even if wages are less than they could receive elsewhere. The Government must also press ahead with its plan to derive maximum value from the foreign-trained doctors already in this country. Professional health groups will oppose its initiative, but for too long they have kept such doctors out of hospitals on the flimsiest of pretexts.
Many hospitals are showing a commendable flexibility in considering options that might help to satisfy the junior doctors. These include paying off some of doctors' student loans in return for commitments to stay in the job. More tax-effective ways of addressing doctors' student debt are also being discussed. Such steps, although imposing a cost on hospitals, would have far fewer national implications than a large pay increase. This approach, allied with a serious attempt to reduce working hours and a pay increase of proportions that will not deprive the public of health services, are the right prescription for the junior doctors.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.