Latest news with #AssociationofSalariedMedicalSpecialists
Scoop
6 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Postscript On Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide And New Zealand Recognition Of Palestine
My last Political Bytes post (28 May) discussed why New Zealand should officially recognise the state of Palestine: New Zealand should recognise Palestinian state. The heading I gave the post was Reasons for supporting ethnic cleansing, through genocide, in Palestine. This was my attempt at irony; by exploring the reasons that underpin the support for the genocidal ethnic cleansing in order to rebut them. Broadly speaking it appeared to work although, for some, it raised some eyebrows of initial confusion; was I actually supporting ethnic cleansing. It also generated two particularly thoughtful responses that deserve further comment. The first concerned Jews who are horrified over, and vehemently opposed to, Israel's war against Palestinians, particularly in Gaza but also the occupied West Bank. The second involved the two-state solution proposal. Both are worthy of further consideration. Jews against ethnic cleansing (and genocide) Dr David Galler is a retired intensive care specialist who spent most of his medical career in Middlemore Hospital. He was also a longstanding National Executive member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (including as Vice President and President) while I was its Executive Director. Today he is actively involved in Healthcare Aotearoa with its strong focus on public (population) heath and is a health commentator. Dr David Galler outraged by genocide pursued in the name of Jews like him Coincidentally Dr Galler emailed the Israeli Embassy in New Zealand the day before my above-mentioned post. I reprint it below (with his express permission): I am Jewish My parents were Polish Jews My mother was a child in Auschwitz and survived the Death March She lost her family in the Katowice ghetto and at Auschwitz She arrived in Haifa in 1947 My father escaped Poland in 1939 but lost most of his family and married my mother in Tel Aviv My great father was the Chief Rabbi of Poland I am writing to express my utter disgust at Israel's vile and horrific genocide in Gaza Say what you will, but there's no excuse for what you are doing there – you have destroyed any good will the world had for you and the plight of my ancestors. You have brutalised your own population and actively stoked the fires of antisemitism across the world How dare your PM, a man who has done more damage to Israel than the Palestinians ever could, and your state accuse people like me of antisemitism for criticising your disregard for international law and human rights. Shame on you and shame on your government. David Galler Jews opposed to Zionism is not new Opposition among Jews to Zionism is not new. On 15 March I posted in Political Bytes about the relationship between apartheid and Zionism: When Apartheid met Zionism. Jewish immigration to South Africa from the late 19th century brought two powerful competing ideas to from Eastern Europe. One was Zionism while the other was the Bundists with a strong radical commitment to justice. It is easy to forget that historically speaking, since Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ, Zionism is a relatively new ideology. Further, Jewish opposition to Israel is as old as Zionism itself. A critical turning point in my understanding of Palestine and Israel was reading Maxime Rodinson's Israel and the Arabs first published in 1968. Rodinson was from a Jewish family (his father was a prominent Bundist leader). His central argument was that the Israel-Palestinian conflict was essentially …the struggle of an indigenous population against the occupation of its normal territory by foreigners… I was also struck by his clarifying explanation of the word 'semitic.' The common perception is that semitic refers to the Hebrew language. In fact, it also includes the Arabic language. In other words, Palestinians are as semitic as Jews, but Zionism has monopolised the use of the term to apply exclusively to the latter. Joseph Massad, of Christian Palestinian origin and from Jordan, is Professor of Modern Arab Politics at New York's Columbia University. In Middle East Eye (29 February 2024) he reports that European and American Jews have been at the forefront of opposition to Zionism since its birth as a colonial-settler movement at the end of the 19th century: Jewish opposition to Zionist Israel is as old as Zionism itself. Witness this article published in the UK Jewish News (16 April) on the critical views of some Jewish leaders to Israel's conduct in Gaza now: UK Jewish leaders oppose Israel's war in Gaza. It is noteworthy that many Jews are at the forefront of the large protests over Israel's war against Palestinians in Gaza (and oppression of Palestinians on the West Bank) throughout the world, including New Zealand. It is hardly surprising that David Galler is so frustrated and angry. Ethnic cleansing through genocide is being justified in the name of his ethnicity. The extremist Israeli government has weaponised antisemitism to apply to genocide in his and many other Jews names. Two-state solution: a delusion? The second response came from retired journalist John Trezise who publishes on his Kiwis website. He posted the following: New Zealand should recognise Palestinian statehood as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle for equal rights against the Zionists and their apartheid state Israel. However, I agree with Gideon Levy that the possibility of a Palestinian state becoming a reality is long gone: 'The two-state solution died a long time ago, unfortunately, and it cannot be revived in the present circumstances. We have a government that in the last 15 years did anything possible to destroy this solution; it was destroyed. There are 7,00,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank who will never be replaced or evacuated. Without their evacuation, there is no room, no physical room for a Palestinian state, not for a viable one. Therefore, I think it's time to stop dreaming about the two-state solution. The only vision left, except for an apartheid state, is obviously a democracy between the river and the sea. I don't see any other alternative. It's a long way to go, but at least let's start talking about it. Let's start dreaming about it. Let's start realising that the only choice now is between an apartheid state between the river and the sea or a democracy between the river and the sea.' His quote from Gideon Levy is important. Levy is an Israeli journalist and author. He writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Levy is a courageous journalist who truly practices truth to power. He has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories. In 2021 he won Israel's top award for journalism. In short, I agree with what he says in the above quote forwarded by John Trezise. Levy was right to advocate starting a conversation over a democratic one-state solution from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean. That is what British Mandate Palestine was (minus the democratic bit) before 1948. Subsequently, but still decades ago, Fatah advocated a secular democratic Palestine on the same landmass as under the Mandate. I agreed with this position then and still do, despite how inconceivable this appears in this moment of historical time. Interestingly, when he was close to Fatah 'back in the day' (when this organisation was dominant among Palestinians) Palestinian intellectual Edward Said advocated a two-state solution. It was rejected by Fatah at the time. However, Said promoted it on a more robust geographic basis than what the Oslo Accords subsequently provided for. He saw his proposal as providing the basis for discussion on transitioning to the single state idea. Rightly so Said was a strong critic of the Oslo Accords because it was well short of this objective. Instead, they resembled the infamous and racist 'Bantustans' of apartheid South Africa. Recognising Palestinian Territories as a sovereign country could be the starting point for a wider conversation about the future of Israel and Palestine My support for New Zealand recognising the Palestinian Territories as the official state of Palestine, however, was in the context of a small step in the right direction towards Gideon Levy's above-mentioned conversation and the importance of solidarity with the victims of repression in one territory and genocide in the other. Final word I will leave the final word to Don Carson who has been persistently and cogently advocating for Palestinian rights since the 1970s. An email he sent me after reading my post prompted this postscript. In his words: Great piece Ian, especially the historical context and demography Only issue I would have is that sanctions on Israel should be the priority; IDF [Israel Defence Force] visitors Close the Embassy Trade and bilateral Suspend Israel from the UN I could not agree more. Ian Powell Otaihanga Second Opinion is a regular health systems blog in New Zealand. Ian Powell is the editor of the health systems blog 'Otaihanga Second Opinion.' He is also a columnist for New Zealand Doctor, occasional columnist for the Sunday Star Times, and contributor to the Victoria University hosted Democracy Project. For over 30 years , until December 2019, he was the Executive Director of Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand.
Scoop
20-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Budget 2025 – What Vote Health Needs Just To Stay Afloat
Press Release – Association of Salaried Medical Specialists 'Year on year specialists in our public hospitals are being asked to do more and more,' says ASMS policy director Harriet Wild. Budget 2025 will need to include $2 billion in additional operational funding this year just for the public health system to stand still. 'Year on year specialists in our public hospitals are being asked to do more and more,' says ASMS policy director Harriet Wild. 'If we do not see this level of investment as a minimum it just means the Government is choosing to dig their own hole that much deeper. Again in 12-months' time they will gamble on the future of our public health system again, knowing they have made the odds that much worse.' Two billion dollars is the increase required to meet health cost pressures (which run higher than general inflation) including changes in pricing, volumes, and inflation, as well as the increased need created by a growing and ageing population. New Zealand's population is growing by 1.3% annually. New Zealand's population is also ageing. Almost three-quarters of total life-long healthcare costs occur in the last three years of life. Census data shows 1 in 6 people were aged 65 and older in 2023, this is projected to be 1 in 5 by 2033. The need for hospital-based acute care is also increasing. Acute discharges in public hospital increased by 28% between 2014 and 2023. Almost 1.3 million people attended an Emergency Department in 2022/23, a 22.5% increase since 2013/14. Over the same period, the population increased by 16%. Two billion dollars will not remedy decades of underfunding of New Zealand's health system. New Zealand's total health expenditure (public and private) as a proportion of GDP has remained well below comparable countries for many years. Prior to Covid-19, New Zealand spent 9% of GDP on health, while countries including Australia, Canada, The Netherlands and Sweden spent an average 10.7%. The New Zealand Health Survey shows significant volume of unmet health need also remains in our community, with 1.86 million adults experiencing an unmet need for dental care due to cost. 464,000 adults have an unmet need for mental health or addiction services – an increase of 3.3% since 2023. While investing in primary care will make people healthier overall, it will also generate more cost for our hospitals as unmet need for secondary care is identified by those primary care providers. $1.43 billion was allocated to meet health sector cost pressures (demographic changes, price and wage increases) in the 2023-4 Budget. However, when appearing before health select committee during Scrutiny Week in March 2024, Te Whatu Ora officials acknowledged this fell short of what was required.
Scoop
04-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
On The Doctors Strike
About 5,500 doctors held a 24-hour nationwide strike in New Zealand on May 1 in protest against a pay offer of just 1.5 percent, spread over two years. This would be a major pay cut in real terms, with annual inflation at 2.6 percent for the year to March. It was the first ever full-day strike by senior doctors in the country's public hospitals, called by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). It follows strikes last year by thousands of junior doctors and by tens of thousands of nurses, and repeated strikes this year by medical laboratory workers. The doctors' strike coincided with strikes by 370 perioperative nurses at Auckland City Hospital, in protest over understaffing, and by nearly 1,000 home support workers employed by Access Community Health, who have received no pay increase for nearly two years. The unions involved—the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) and the Public Service Association (PSA)—limited these strikes to just two hours. These actions reflect widespread opposition to the right-wing National Party-led coalition government's intensifying assault on the public health system. The day before the doctors' strike, Health NZ confirmed that it has axed 540 jobs from its IT department, reducing its staffing by about a third. This will place further pressure on public hospitals' antiquated computer systems. Hospitals are being instructed to find hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and are leaving vacant positions unfilled. According to the ASMS, the vacancy rate for senior medical officers across the country is 12 percent, but in some areas it is more than 40 percent. Health Minister Simeon Brown said he was 'disappointed' with the strike. He cynically told the media that 'an estimated 4,300 procedures such as hip operations, knee operations, cataract removals and critical specialist assessments would be delayed as a result of this strike.' In fact, the austerity measures imposed by his government—and the previous Labour Party-led government—have produced the crisis of unmet need. According to Newsroom, 'The waitlist for elective procedures sat at 76,677 at the end of September, with 30,173 waiting for more than four months and 2,159 waiting for more than a year.' One News reported that 200,000 people are currently waiting to receive a specialist assessment, with long wait times often leading to serious harm. Doctor Allan Moffitt told the outlet: 'I have a patient who had cancer and I could tell that it was a serious type of cancer. Her referral took over six months to be seen.' Emergency departments are frequently filled above capacity, resulting in significant delays for urgent cases. Newsroom reports that data for 2024 shows ambulances 'waited 35 minutes, on average, to hand patients over to hospitals.' One doctor wrote in the r/newzealand Reddit forum that, for them, the strike was 'about retaining colleagues so that work isn't utter misery. We are haemorrhaging specialists at our hospital, and with each resignation, there's more strain on those who stay.' Striking Wellington physician Andrew Davies told Radio NZ the staffing crisis was the major issue: 'We've got vacant jobs that we're not allowed to advertise. It's lies that they're not getting rid of front-line staff.' In response to the crisis, the government is outsourcing thousands of procedures to private hospitals, further undermining the public system and paving the way for privatisation. More budget cuts are being prepared. Finance Minister Nicola Willis revealed on April 29 that in response to the deteriorating economic outlook—the US trade war targeting China could trigger a global recession—the government will slash new spending in this year's budget from the previously announced $NZ2.4 billion to just $1.3 billion. This will be the smallest spending increase in a decade. Treasury officials previously stated that $2.5 billion in new spending was the minimum required just to meet the growing cost of delivering services. The opposition Labour Party's criticism of the government's cuts is thoroughly hypocritical. The previous Labour-led government oversaw a worsening crisis in the health system, including expanding waiting times for surgery and an effective wage freeze, which prompted strikes by nurses, midwives, doctors and other workers. Labour's decision in 2022 to remove all restrictions on the spread of COVID-19 led to thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalisations, placing extraordinary pressure on hospitals. Labour supports the government's plan to double military spending from 1 to 2 percent of gross domestic product, which will be funded at the expense of health, education and other essential programs. The government has pledged an extra $12 billion for defence over four years to further integrate New Zealand into US-led imperialist war plans. Workers also confront a trade union bureaucracy that is enforcing government cuts and preventing an effective, unified struggle against austerity. The various health unions have ensured that different sections of workers remain isolated from each other, with strikes limited to a day or less. It has been more than five months since more than 30,000 nurses struck after rejecting a 1.5 percent pay offer, with the dispute still unresolved. The NZNO is seeking to wear down its members and persuade them to accept a sellout. The PSA is demanding that even more money be spent on the military, while the union collaborates in imposing redundancies across multiple government departments. The ASMS returned to negotiations with Health NZ the day after the doctors' strike. The government agency has requested facilitated bargaining by the Employment Relations Authority. The union's Sarah Dalton signalled that the union leadership is backing away from its claim for a 12 percent pay increase. She told the New Zealand Herald: 'It may not be that we achieve 12 percent, but if we can't achieve better than what is on offer at the moment, we will not be able to settle this.' The Socialist Equality Group warns that a sellout is being prepared. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers can only fight back against the government's cuts and privatisation plans if they take matters out of the hands of the union bureaucracy. Rank-and-file committees, controlled by workers themselves, should be established in every hospital to coordinate their struggle. The crisis in the health system also raises the need for a socialist political perspective. Workers must reject the fraud that well-funded, properly staffed and freely available public healthcare is 'unaffordable' and that they have to be 'realistic' and accept pay cuts. The billions of dollars hoarded by the super-rich should be used to vastly expand the public health system and put an end to poverty and inequality. Workers must also demand an end to military spending, with the money redirected into health and other vital social programs. By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group 3 May 2025 Original url:
Scoop
01-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Senior Hospital Doctors Strike In Protest At Stalled Pay Talks
Article – RNZ Health NZ insists its offer is fair and reasonable, and expressed disappointment. , Reporter More than 5000 senior hospital doctors and specialists have walked off the job for an unprecedented 24-hour strike in protest over stalled contract negotiations. Health NZ insists its offer is fair and reasonable, and expressed disappointment that thousands of patients were having their care disrupted. However, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists said its members were fighting for the future of the public health system, which was failing to recruit and retain doctors with the low-ball salaries on offer. Health Minister Simeon Brown criticised the Association for not putting the Health NZ offer to its members to vote on. Coromandel builder Mark was supposed to have surgery on Thursday on his severely infected leg, but had been warned it was likely to be postponed due to the strike. It was the second time in six months that Mark had been caught up in industrial action, after waiting four weeks in November for reconstructive surgery on his shoulder after an earlier accident. 'I spent about eight, eight-and-a-half hours in surgery in the Monday. And then on Tuesday they got me out of bed and shunted me out because of the nurses' strike and said come back for a check-up in six weeks. Well, I came back in six weeks and another surgeon said to me 'Oh, it's frozen up, because you should have been back moving it after three weeks'.' On Tuesday, he spent more than 12 hours in Waikato Hospital's emergency department after being sent there from Thames Hospital. 'There was elderly in there well into their 80s and 90s just waiting for a bed at 1am and they'd been waiting all day. It's just unreal.' Despite these experiences, the striking doctors have his support. 'All the doctors and nurses have been fantastic. They are working flat out, it's awful for them.' Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Richard Sullivan, said plans were in place to ensure hospitals and emergency departments would remain open during the strike action and clinical staff – including doctors – would still be available to treat patients who needed care. 'We are concerned about the impacts the strike action will have on patients waiting for planned care and specialist appointments,' he said. 'It is estimated that 4300 planned procedures will have to be postponed due to the strike action causing further harm to patients waiting a long time for treatment and will set back our work to provide New Zealanders with faster access to care.' To maintain patient safety, some clinics would be closed. Any appointments that were deferred due to the strike action would be rescheduled for the next available opportunity. '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.' Under the offer rejected by the union, senior doctors would have received increases to base pay ranging from $8,093 to $29,911 to depending on experience, he said. The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists president, Katie Ben, said she was sorry for patients affected by today's strike. However, the same thing was happening every day, year after year, to patients who could not get treatment because of chronic staff shortages, she said. 'I hate having to go to a patient and saying 'I'm really sorry, we're not going to be able to do your operation today, we just don't have the time, the theatre space, the theatre staff, we don't have a bed on the ward for you to be able to go to afterwards. 'Patients have turned their lives upside down to get ready for their surgery – taken time off work, organised people to look after their children… it's very distressing.' Health NZ's pay offer was a 1.5 percent cap on total salary increases over the two-year term, which amounted to a pay rise of 0.77 percent per year. 'They do have the money, they're spending it in the wrong place. So for example, they spent more than $380m trying on locums and temporary staff trying to plug the gaps. 'If they had put that money into front-line, full-time, permanent staff, this would not be an issue.' Dr Ben said she and her colleagues did not want to strike. However, the chronic workforce shortages leave them no choice. When she is on call, she is the only anaesthetist at Nelson Hospital. 'And If I'm in theatre with a trauma and they call me for an emergency obstetric intervention, I cannot be there. 'And there are no other anaesthetists to help me – that is a horrendous situation to put anyone in. I do not want to make those decisions. 'Do I leave my patient on the table unattended? That's not going to happen. Do I leave a woman in labour who's in extremis without intervention? That's not going to happen either. What do I do?' Tairāwhiti Gisborne has a 44 percent vacancy rate for senior doctors, according to the most recent head count by heads of department – the worst region in the country. Local union president Carol Chan, a paediatrician, said her own department has a new doctor starting in July, but they have lost three since the start of last year. They should have six doctors doing filling the equivalent of five full-time roles, but instead they have three people doing 2.4 FTE. Shortages in other specialities were also hurting her young patients. There is no child psychiatrist in Tairāwhiti. The shortage of surgeons means long waits for elective surgery. 'Accessing dental surgery is taking a year, that's just not fair. ENT [ear nose and throat] services are also extremely short and children are waiting for grommets for a year without being able to hear – that's just inequitable.' Dr Chan said it was not about the money. 'I don't think any of us who are still here necessarily want a payrise. But what we're getting is not attracting colleagues and keeping them here. 'That's the problem.' Northland cardiologist Marcus Lee is currently trying to recruit another specialist for his team of five – but said they really needed another three to cope with all the patients needing their help. 'Our major issue is recruiting people to come to New Zealand. People come and they say 'It's beautiful'.. but then they look at our salaries and say 'Thanks very much'.' He regularly receives offers to work in Australia paying two to four times as much as his current position. Taranaki resident Denise, who had her long-awaited wrist surgery cancelled today for the second time in a month, does not blame doctors for moving across the Tasman. 'I moved to Australia, I lived there for nearly 30 years and it's incredible the difference in pay. But we need to keep them here, we need them to have a reason to stay. And if we can't even pay them properly… I mean, why would you?' Union 'refusing to put updated offer to members' – Brown Health Minister Simeon Brown has lashed out at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists for not even putting an offer from Health NZ to its members to vote on. Brown took to social media to blame the union for patients now being forced to wait even longer for surgeries, planned treatments, and appointments. He said an updated offer last week, including $25,000 for senior doctors to move to hard to staff regions for two years, had been rejected by the union before members even saw it. 'Over 4000 surgeries, planned treatments, and specialist appointments have been delayed as a result of this strike. People waiting for hip operations, knee replacements, cataract removals and critical specialist assessments will have their care delayed. 'These patients have already been waiting for too long, and will now be forced to wait longer due to the ASMS union refusing to put the updated offer Health NZ put on the table last Thursday to their members,' Brown wrote. The minister said the updated offer addressed a number of the key issues raised by the union to attract and retain senior doctors, but 'instead of putting this offer to members to vote on it, the ASMS union has rejected it'. Brown said key elements of the offer included: Removing steps 1-3 of the senior medical officer pay scale, to ensure senior doctors are earning more than junior doctors and don't get an effective pay reducation when they become senior doctors. A lump sum payment of $8000 over two years to doctors with three years or more. Establishing bonding for senior doctors who move to hard to staff regions such as Nelson and Gisborne, offering a 2-year recruitment and retention payment of $25,000 to help address critical work shortages in these regions.
Scoop
01-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Senior Hospital Doctors Strike In Protest At Stalled Pay Talks
24-hour strike by more than 5000 senior doctors set to finish at 11.59pm Health NZ says it is likely to postpone 4300 planned procedures Doctors say staff shortages already affecting thousands of patients every week Australian hospitals offering "two to four times" the salaries in New Zealand. More than 5000 senior hospital doctors and specialists have walked off the job for an unprecedented 24-hour strike in protest over stalled contract negotiations. Health NZ insists its offer is fair and reasonable, and expressed disappointment that thousands of patients were having their care disrupted. However, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists said its members were fighting for the future of the public health system, which was failing to recruit and retain doctors with the low-ball salaries on offer. Health Minister Simeon Brown criticised the Association for not putting the Health NZ offer to its members to vote on. Coromandel builder Mark was supposed to have surgery on Thursday on his severely infected leg, but had been warned it was likely to be postponed due to the strike. It was the second time in six months that Mark had been caught up in industrial action, after waiting four weeks in November for reconstructive surgery on his shoulder after an earlier accident. "I spent about eight, eight-and-a-half hours in surgery in the Monday. And then on Tuesday they got me out of bed and shunted me out because of the nurses' strike and said come back for a check-up in six weeks. Well, I came back in six weeks and another surgeon said to me 'Oh, it's frozen up, because you should have been back moving it after three weeks'." On Tuesday, he spent more than 12 hours in Waikato Hospital's emergency department after being sent there from Thames Hospital. "There was elderly in there well into their 80s and 90s just waiting for a bed at 1am and they'd been waiting all day. It's just unreal." Despite these experiences, the striking doctors have his support. "All the doctors and nurses have been fantastic. They are working flat out, it's awful for them." Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer, Dr Richard Sullivan, said plans were in place to ensure hospitals and emergency departments would remain open during the strike action and clinical staff - including doctors - would still be available to treat patients who needed care. "We are concerned about the impacts the strike action will have on patients waiting for planned care and specialist appointments," he said. "It is estimated that 4300 planned procedures will have to be postponed due to the strike action causing further harm to patients waiting a long time for treatment and will set back our work to provide New Zealanders with faster access to care." To maintain patient safety, some clinics would be closed. Any appointments that were deferred due to the strike action would be rescheduled for the next available opportunity. "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." Under the offer rejected by the union, senior doctors would have received increases to base pay ranging from $8,093 to $29,911 to depending on experience, he said. The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists president, Katie Ben, said she was sorry for patients affected by today's strike. However, the same thing was happening every day, year after year, to patients who could not get treatment because of chronic staff shortages, she said. "I hate having to go to a patient and saying 'I'm really sorry, we're not going to be able to do your operation today, we just don't have the time, the theatre space, the theatre staff, we don't have a bed on the ward for you to be able to go to afterwards. "Patients have turned their lives upside down to get ready for their surgery - taken time off work, organised people to look after their children... it's very distressing." Health NZ's pay offer was a 1.5 percent cap on total salary increases over the two-year term, which amounted to a pay rise of 0.77 percent per year. "They do have the money, they're spending it in the wrong place. So for example, they spent more than $380m trying on locums and temporary staff trying to plug the gaps. "If they had put that money into front-line, full-time, permanent staff, this would not be an issue." Dr Ben said she and her colleagues did not want to strike. However, the chronic workforce shortages leave them no choice. When she is on call, she is the only anaesthetist at Nelson Hospital. "And If I'm in theatre with a trauma and they call me for an emergency obstetric intervention, I cannot be there. "And there are no other anaesthetists to help me - that is a horrendous situation to put anyone in. I do not want to make those decisions. "Do I leave my patient on the table unattended? That's not going to happen. Do I leave a woman in labour who's in extremis without intervention? That's not going to happen either. What do I do?" Tairāwhiti Gisborne has a 44 percent vacancy rate for senior doctors, according to the most recent head count by heads of department - the worst region in the country. Local union president Carol Chan, a paediatrician, said her own department has a new doctor starting in July, but they have lost three since the start of last year. They should have six doctors doing filling the equivalent of five full-time roles, but instead they have three people doing 2.4 FTE. Shortages in other specialities were also hurting her young patients. There is no child psychiatrist in Tairāwhiti. The shortage of surgeons means long waits for elective surgery. "Accessing dental surgery is taking a year, that's just not fair. ENT [ear nose and throat] services are also extremely short and children are waiting for grommets for a year without being able to hear - that's just inequitable." Dr Chan said it was not about the money. "I don't think any of us who are still here necessarily want a payrise. But what we're getting is not attracting colleagues and keeping them here. "That's the problem." Northland cardiologist Marcus Lee is currently trying to recruit another specialist for his team of five - but said they really needed another three to cope with all the patients needing their help. "Our major issue is recruiting people to come to New Zealand. People come and they say 'It's beautiful'.. but then they look at our salaries and say 'Thanks very much'." He regularly receives offers to work in Australia paying two to four times as much as his current position. Taranaki resident Denise, who had her long-awaited wrist surgery cancelled today for the second time in a month, does not blame doctors for moving across the Tasman. "I moved to Australia, I lived there for nearly 30 years and it's incredible the difference in pay. But we need to keep them here, we need them to have a reason to stay. And if we can't even pay them properly... I mean, why would you?" Union 'refusing to put updated offer to members' - Brown Health Minister Simeon Brown has lashed out at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists for not even putting an offer from Health NZ to its members to vote on. Brown took to social media to blame the union for patients now being forced to wait even longer for surgeries, planned treatments, and appointments. He said an updated offer last week, including $25,000 for senior doctors to move to hard to staff regions for two years, had been rejected by the union before members even saw it. "Over 4000 surgeries, planned treatments, and specialist appointments have been delayed as a result of this strike. People waiting for hip operations, knee replacements, cataract removals and critical specialist assessments will have their care delayed. "These patients have already been waiting for too long, and will now be forced to wait longer due to the ASMS union refusing to put the updated offer Health NZ put on the table last Thursday to their members," Brown wrote. The minister said the updated offer addressed a number of the key issues raised by the union to attract and retain senior doctors, but "instead of putting this offer to members to vote on it, the ASMS union has rejected it". Brown said key elements of the offer included: Removing steps 1-3 of the senior medical officer pay scale, to ensure senior doctors are earning more than junior doctors and don't get an effective pay reducation when they become senior doctors. A lump sum payment of $8000 over two years to doctors with three years or more. Establishing bonding for senior doctors who move to hard to staff regions such as Nelson and Gisborne, offering a 2-year recruitment and retention payment of $25,000 to help address critical work shortages in these regions. Annual increases in steps for senior doctors over a two-year term of the collective.
