KEY POINTS:
Auckland public hospitals need to consider partial shutdowns to cope with a shortage of junior doctors which is severe for this time of year, their union says.
The NZ Resident Doctors' Association will seek an Auckland allowance for members at what it calls an emergency meeting with the region's three district health boards today.
In an email to union representatives yesterday, general secretary Deborah Powell said 88 - 25 per cent - of the region's 352 house officer positions would be vacant on November 24 when the new employment year began for those in early post-graduate years.
"This compares with 35 vacancies this time last year and none the year before that."
More than 10 per cent of registrar (specialist-in-training) positions would be vacant for the start of their new year on December 8.
The email said the union had raised the prospect with the health boards that they would have to pay an "Auckland allowance".
"All of this will mean the application of money ... if the DHBs won't front up to this reality then we will be requiring contingency plans for the shutting or limiting of services."
The union only last month ratified a new collective agreement with boards nationally that includes a pay rise. The deal followed strikes in April and May and months of acrimony between the parties.
Dr Powell yesterday denied that the email was to generate political pressure before tomorrow's general election. She told the Herald she sent it to inform members, who were already aware of the issues.
Auckland's health boards were currently short of 20 per cent of the house officers they needed, she said.
The chief executive of the Auckland District Health Board, Garry Smith, said last night that the shortage of junior doctors was a recognised issue.
"That is precisely why a commission has been called [by the Health Ministry].
"I question the motives of releasing information to the media on the evening before a meeting and after a regional meeting with the the union on Monday."
