Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton told The Front Page that Health NZ spends upwards of $200 million annually on locums, rather than investing in salaried specialists.
“Why would you prioritise letting locum rates go up and up for temporary labour, who of course do a good job, but they don’t do the whole job and they’re not here for the long haul, while at the same time you’re saying to a salaried doctor, no, we’re not gonna pay you a retention allowance for working in Gisborne or Invercargill. ..
“It would actually be cheaper for Health New Zealand and better for the public if they incentivise salaried work and disincentivise locum work,” she said.
Dalton said negotiations thus far have been “empty” and the only time an offer has been brought to the table is when they called strike action.
“Now that’s pretty blunt and pretty basic. We would’ve liked to have had senior enough people across the table right from the start to work through issues with us.
“Can we talk about staffing levels? Can we talk about where your workforce planning is at? Can we discuss how our collective agreement and negotiations fit into the short- and medium-term plans?
“We don’t get that. We get, you can have this much, but no more. And also, if we give you this much, don’t tell the others, ’cause they’ll want it too. It’s real kindergarten stuff,” she said.
Health New Zealand hospitals remain open during the strike action, which ends tonight at 11.59pm.
Contingency planning is well-progressed and an agreement is in place with the union to provide life-preserving services throughout the strike period.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- How do you become a senior doctor?
- The retention and recruitment crisis in health
- Issues with locum reliance
- The lack of long-term planning
- The need for cross-party support for our health system.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
