Government will not intervene in doctors' strike - yet

Pete Hodgson

Health Minister Pete Hodgson has said it is not yet time for the Government to intervene in the junior doctors' strike.

Mr Hodgson urged the two parties to resolve the dispute themselves.

Auckland Hospital's chief medical officer, David Sage, said around 45 percent of junior doctors -- both union and non-union members -- turned up for work today.

"One can only assume they are either embarrassed by their union or they are not union members," he said.

Mr Hodgson said the status quo was "no longer sustainable" because it was not right that one workforce had such a different industrial framework to all the others in the hospital system.

Furthermore, junior doctors would not be adequately trained in some specialities if the present system continued, he told National Radio.

This was one of the issues that drove his predecessor Annette King to set up the Doctors in Training Round Table over a year ago.

He acknowledged that the strike, which affects about 17,000 patients and went into its second day today, would hit hardest those waiting for elective surgery and out-patient appointments.

Because of the strike, the Ministry of Health had relaxed its demands that district health boards cull waiting lists to under six months.

However, Mr Hodgson refused to say when it would be time for the Government to step in and "do something heavy".

There was provision in the industrial law to maintain life-preserving services, he said.

Senior doctors, nurses and the public had all played a role in ensuring hospitals kept functioning yesterday, he said.

"We have to have a change in the longer term in the way we run our hospitals," he said.

"That change has to be negotiated some how -- there are two ways here -- they can't agree and I urge them afresh to try again."

Meanwhile, junior doctors say they will not return to the negotiating table until DHBs make some concessions.

Around 2500 doctors have walked off the job and negotiations ended acrimoniously last night. No more talks are scheduled as the strike continues.

The DHBs lead negotiator Nigel Murray said after four days of negotiations, the parties had actually "gone backwards" -- but it was vital that talks continued.

"These issues are absolutely vital to the New Zealand health sector, I will go anywhere, any place at any time in New Zealand to discuss, negotiate these issues so that we can find a solution that both parties can find acceptable," he told National Radio.

Resident Doctors' Association (RDA) general secretary Deborah Powell said DHBs were trying to dilute existing conditions.

She said the DHBs had rejected the union's "compromise" offer, which provided for a committee to discuss the issue.

The union, which had previously resisted the idea of a committee, said it had been willing to have one as a compromise -- as long as it introduced trial rosters.

Ms Powell said: "If what Peter [Hodgson] is trying to say is that in order to train neurosurgeons, they need to work 32 hours without sleep, well I'm sorry, we would disagree with that."

- NZPA