The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) yesterday called on Health Minister Pete Hodgson to intervene in the impasse between senior doctors and district health boards.
NZMA chairman Dr Peter Foley said the association was concerned at the potential for "extreme disruption" to the health sector and the medicalworkforce if the situation was not resolved.
Represented by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), senior doctors last week completed a month-long series of stopwork meetings and resume mediation with their DHB employers today.
The employers said last month they had offered a pay rise spread over four years that would amount to $45,000 for a "typical senior doctor".
The DHBs' lead negotiator, Nigel Murray, said it would see a typical senior doctor's total earnings move from $190,500 to $235,860 - a figure doctors have rejected as being over-exaggerated.
ASMS executive director Ian Powell said the doctors' position was for a two-year term, with a salary increase that would average out at 5 per cent per year. They also wanted to increase the rate of compensation for working on-call, and improve the level of reimbursement of continuing medical education.
Dr Foley said it was time for Mr Hodgson to "increase his involvement and take decisive action".
"Without a swift resolution, the ongoing industrial situation will cause major problems for both patients and the medical workforce - both current and future," Dr Foley said.
Although the NZMA was not directly involved in industrial negotiations, Dr Foley said it had been calling for some time for improvements to the medical workforce, which was already facing a crisis which protracted industrial negotiations could only worsen.
"The Government must take action urgently. The situation has obviously gone beyond what the DHBs can effectively deal with."
Dr Foley said the working environment in public hospitals was already difficult, and many staff were considering heading overseas where pay and conditions were often better.
The ASMS said the stopwork meetings "overwhelmingly" authorised limited industrial action, excluding emergencies, should the impasse continue after mediation concludes on August 24.
A spokeswoman for Mr Hodgson said the minister was in close contact with the parties involved in the negotiations. "But he is not an employer and does not intend commenting on the situation."
