Health NZ 'deeply disappointed' strike to go ahead
Last-ditch mediation between Health NZ and the senior doctors' union has failed to avert an unprecedented 24-hour strike.
More than 5000 members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists are set to walk off the job on May 1, affecting about 4300 patients who will have their planned treatment postponed.
Health NZ Te Whatu Ora deputy chief executive Cath Cronin said the agency was "deeply disappointed" that the union had refused to present its latest offer to its members following mediation on Thursday.
"We value our doctors and want to do the best we can for them, but the reality is that Health NZ has limited budget available for salary settlements within its tight financial constraints," she said.
Health NZ was urgently applying for facilitation, which would "give an independent party the opportunity to hear from both sides and make a recommendation".
"We believe we have been fair and realistic, including offering to remove the lowest pay steps for senior doctors."
Cronin said Te Whatu Ora had "heard" the union's concern regarding growing and retaining the senior doctor workforce.
Under Te Whatu Ora's new offer, a first-year specialist would receive a $17,700 (9.5%) increase on base salary and a 9.5% increase on other remuneration, including KiwiSaver, and another 6% the following year.
A second-year specialist would receive a $11,800 (6.2%) pay increase on base salary plus 6.2% for KiwiSaver, and another 6% increase in the following year.
All other specialists would have their salaries increased by 3% over two years, with a lump sum payment of $8000 to doctors with three or more years' experience.
"Additionally, we offered an incentive in 'hard to recruit' districts, which will assist in attracting and retaining senior doctors." Latest offer 'worse' - union
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said however there was no point taking the offer to its members as for most of them it was "worse than what was originally on the table".
Most specialists were already near or at the top of the specialist scale, and for them the offer (a 33-month term with no backdating) worked out at "less than 0.77% on average", she said.
Dalton said the offer of less than 1% amounted to a pay cut in real terms, and would "drive existing doctors away rather than help retain them".
It would not attract any new senior doctors to fill vacancies, which run at 12% on average, and up to 44% in some districts.
"New Zealand will be short more than 3450 senior doctors by 2032 and we are already seeing the impact of doctor shortages across the country with longer wait times in emergency departments and for first specialists' appointments.
"At the same time, Health NZ continues to pay considerable amounts to locums [doctors covering specialist vacancies] some of whom are left in the posts for months rather than days or weeks, and who are paid significantly more than salaried staff.
"So we think their priorities are wrong, they're not taking a long-term investment approach. They still can't adequately account for where there are gaps and where there are not."
While Health NZ was claiming to have made "recruitment and retention offers" in hard to staff areas, that was only happening in four districts, she said.
"They have coincidentally limited those to the four that have been in the media the most. Some of them do have the greatest need, like Tairāwhiti, but there are regions that have demonstrably higher vacancy levels that have not been included in this list.
"So they continue to ignore their own data in terms of what they say they are doing."
Dalton acknowledged that Te Whatu Ora did move to address some problems in mediation, including offering to "restore relativities" with junior doctors.
That would benefit about 500 members.
However, some doctors were still waiting for aspects of the last collective settlement to be implemented. For instance, some districts were still not paying emergency department shift allowances.
"The strike will result in planned procedures being postponed, but the same number of procedures are lost every week due to ongoing staff shortages," Dalton said.
Hospitals and emergency departments will remain open, and the union is working with Health NZ to ensure life-preserving services continue during the strike.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
17 hours ago
- RNZ News
Health NZ planned to vacate Segar House before public consultation, emails reveal
Ingrid Leary Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Health New Zealand intended to vacate at the end of January a central Auckland building occupied by a mental health service facing closure, correspondence shows. Labour's mental health spokeswoman, Ingrid Leary, said this shows officials originally intended to axe the service last year, but Health NZ said this isn't the case. It has proposed closing Rauaroha Segar House , a publicly funded intensive programme for people with long-standing or chronic mental health problems. Segar House. Photo: Google Maps Street View It's consulting on the proposal now , as staff rally to keep a service they and many patients say is unique. The programme at Segar House mixes individual therapy with group work and it runs from a building on Khyber Pass Road. Correspondence obtained from Health NZ by Leary shows officials gave the building owner formal notice on 16 December of its intention to vacate the building by 31 January. Another email showed the lease was previously slated to run out on 31 December. There is no mention in the correspondence of possible alternative venues for the programme. By 20 December, Health NZ's position had changed. "I would like to start by firstly apologising profusely for what I am about to write," Health NZ's real estate and space manager for its northern region, Harshna Mistry, wrote to a representative of the building owner. "It is wildly unusual for us to be this indecisive and I can only hope you can be understanding given the current financial and organisational challenges we as an organisation face. "My seniors have contacted me today to request if we can actually remain in the Khyber Pass property until 1 June 2025. It seems the service are not as prepared to vacate as we would have hoped. "I am truly sorry for the flip-flopping. I appreciate this is frustrating for you (I share this sentiment)." Health NZ has confirmed to RNZ that the lease for the building now runs until 30 September, having since been extended again. Leary said the emails she obtained were revealing. "It's very clear from the official documents that the plan was to shut down Segar House before the end of last year or at the end of January at the latest and there was no intention or open-mindedness about letting the service continue," she said. "It's very clear from the documents that the cost of the lease was a significant factor in their thinking." Health NZ denies this. RNZ has asked Health NZ if it intended to shut the service by January and, if not, what efforts it had made last year to search for an alternative venue for it. Its group director of operations for Te Toka Tumai Auckland Michael Shepherd said lease renewal wasn't a factor in its decision making. "We had not made any decisions about the service or committed to a change process last year," he said. "We were considering the range of ways we deliver our specialist mental health services in order to provide the best healthcare to our community, including the best value for taxpayer funding. "We therefore extended the lease for six months to allow for further work to occur. But no decisions had been made. "We assessed some other options, including internal and external facilities, to confirm we had suitable options to be able to continue the service. These did not need to be progressed because we were able to extend the lease." Staff were told about the closure proposal in early April, according to a document seen by RNZ. Leary said if there was a move to close the service earlier and staff weren't told then that showed bad faith when entering the present round of consultation. The tone of the emails was unusual and it showed the chaos caused by cuts to the health budget, she said. Just days before confirming the lease flip-flop, Mistry wrote to the building representative that extending the lease would be unlikely. "As you are aware Te Whatu Ora is in a significant period of flux at the moment and I apologise for the impact this is having on our external partners like yourselves. "I have discussed the details of the lease with my superiors. The appetite to absorb the necessary legal costs and go through the process of extending for a further six months is not something the organisation has funding for at this time." An internal email between Health NZ officials in March this year speaks of further extensions to the lease, which have since happened. "Recognising the lease and utilities cost approximately $165,000 per annum, we need to be confident the additional cost is essential," it said. Earlier this week Shepherd said Health NZ was on 18 June informed the Khyber Pass building was being sold. "A prospective buyer was scheduled to inspect the property on the same day. We informed the Rauaroha Segar House team about this on Wednesday morning [last week] by email." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Health NZ pay first instalment of Holidays Act shortfall to Waikato staff
More than $39m was paid out to Waikato staff on Friday, Photo: Supplied/ Waikato Hospital More than $39 million in Holidays Act remediation payments were made to Health New Zealand's Waikato staff on Friday - with more payments to come. Identified in 2016, issues relating to the Holidays Act found former district health boards were not paying staff correctly. Health New Zealand Te Manawa Taki regional deputy chief executive Cath Cronin said 5531 current Waikato District staff received a payment. "The remediation payment made today is for the period from 1 May 2010 to 30 June 2022," she said. "The payroll in Waikato is progressively being made compliant and staff in Waikato will receive a second payment later this year from 1 July 2022 up to the date of the second payment." Cronin said the complexities of the payroll in Waikato meant splitting the total amount over two payments was the best way for HNZ to move forward. "We have made significant progress in the remediation project with around two-thirds of our current Health New Zealand employees now having received the money they are owed," she said. The payment today followed similar payments to current HNZ staff in Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitematā, Taranaki, Wairarapa, Nelson Marlborough], Hutt Valley, Capital Coast , Bay of Plenty, Te Tai Tokerau, Hawke's Bay and South Canterbury. The organisation said more than 75 percent of its payrolls had now been rectified. "Nationally, we have about 90,000 current employees, plus 130,000 former employees, covered by the Holidays Act remediation project, for the period from 1 May 2010 to the present day," Cronin said. The payment to Waikato District staff takes the amount paid so far nationally to more than $530.2 million across 71,093 current employees.
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
Over $39 Million In Holidays Act Remediation Payments Made To Health NZ's Waikato Staff
Statement attributable to Cath Cronin, Health New Zealand Te Manawa Taki Regional Deputy Chief Executive Today approximately $39.1 million in Holidays Act remediation payments have been processed for 5531 current Waikato District staff. The remediation payment made today is for the period from 1 May 2010 to 30 June 2022. The payroll in Waikato is progressively being made compliant and staff in Waikato will receive a second payment later this year from 1 July 2022 up to the date of the second payment. The complexities of the payroll in Waikato mean that splitting the total amount over two payments is the best way for us to get money into people's pockets sooner. We have made significant progress in the remediation project with around two-thirds of our current Health New Zealand employees now having received the money they are owed. I want to acknowledge the patience of our staff who have been waiting for their payment and also recognise the huge work from our payroll teams, both nationally and in the regions, who have worked tirelessly on this programme. The payment today means over 75% of our payrolls nationally have been rectified. This means those payrolls are now compliant with the Act and staff are being paid correctly for their holidays in a nationally consistent way. Nationally we have about 90,000 current employees plus 130,000 former employees covered by the Holidays Act remediation project, for the period from 1 May 2010 to the present day. Waikato District is the eighteenth payroll nationally to have Holidays Act remediation payments processed to current staff with Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waitematā, Taranaki, Wairarapa, Nelson Marlborough, Hutt Valley, Capital Coast and four former shared services completed, and a partial payments made in Bay of Plenty, Te Tai Tokerau, Hawke's Bay, South Canterbury. The payment to Waikato District staff takes the total amount paid so far nationally to over $530.2 million across 71,093 current employees.
