Senior doctors have responded strongly to the Health Minister’s claim that they are prioritising politics over patient care, accusing him of ignoring the real concerns expressed by health workers.
Health Minister Simeon Brown delivered a harsh critique at the senior doctors’ annual conference, accusing them of “crossing an ethical line” with strike actions that harm patients.
In his speech to the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, he called on doctors to end their strike and put patients ahead of politics.
Laughter broke out in the room when Brown mentioned that Health NZ had informed him the average salary for a senior doctor was $325,000 and that the employer’s offer amounted to a $160 million pay increase.
He said patients were shouldering the impact of the strike, and the union was accused of walking away from the negotiations.
Health NZ said that if this persists, the upcoming strike will cancel over 900 procedures and more than 1,380 first specialist assessments will be removed from the schedule.
Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, said the minister was mistaken in implying that striking health workers had lost sight of patients.
“In fact, that is a key driver in what is pushing our members to take strike action in the face of Health NZ and a government that is deaf to what is really going on with our health workforce.”
She said the minister was clearly being given incorrect information by Health NZ.
Members found it “particularly offensive” that Brown persisted in stating the average salary for senior doctors and dentists was $347,000.
“In fact there were several questions to the minister that we didn’t have time to put to him, which said, ‘Pay us that, and we’ll be happy.'”
Dalton said that when Brown accused the union of abandoning negotiations, he overlooked that the union had asked Health NZ’s negotiating team twice for talks in the past month, both requests being refused.
She said doctors did not want to strike, but the number of patients missing out on care due to persistent workforce shortages far exceeded those affected by the industrial action.
“Every single day people are missing out on care because this government is not interested in putting in the real resources which are needed.”
Some members of the workforce informed the minister that the number of patients experiencing delays from strike action was only a small portion compared to those missing out daily because of ongoing workforce shortages.
“We have now taken to putting the number of times the patient has been cancelled on the operating list to ensure the patient doesn’t get cancelled for the fourth, fifth or sixth time,” said Katie Ben, union president and Nelson Hospital anaesthetist.
She said non-clinical managers were cancelling scheduled care due to an inability to staff rosters.
Waikato Hospital rheumatologist Alan Doube said many individuals with debilitating chronic conditions never even received a first specialist appointment (FSA).
“In Waikato we decline regularly 50% of our FSA so we can provide some kind of sensible ongoing care.”
Emergency medicine specialist Tom Morton questioned the minister about his strategy to resolve the recruitment and retention crisis.
“Our ED waiting times have blown out with more than doubling of patients leaving without being seen, which I think is a significant marker of unmet need that’s not being recorded or reported on officially,” Morton said.