Warwick Smith/Stuff
Palmerston North Hospital senior doctors and dentists walked off the wards to protest outside the recent extensions to the ED on Ruahine St.
Scores of Palmerston North’s 160 senior doctors mounted an unlikely and unprecedented protest on Ruahine St during Tuesday’s two-hour strike.
They represented most of the hospital’s specialties including cancer treatment, cardiology, paediatrics, the emergency department, geriatrics, obstetrics, surgery and more.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) spokesperson Nathalie de Vries said the strike was the first time New Zealand’s senior doctors had taken concerted industrial action.
Although the strike was only for two hours, the timing disrupted entire surgical lists, and most clinics, but with minimal impact on patients, de Vries said.
Te Whatu Ora MidCentral did not answer questions about how many patients, appointments and operations were affected.
In a national statement, Te Whatu Ora said about 250 planned care procedures were deferred around the country.
Union delegate and emergency medicine specialist Thomas Carter estimated that in Palmerston North up to 200 out-patient appointments and 20 surgical procedures could have been affected.
He said most of the doctors would probably work beyond their shifts to ensure their patients were cared for.
The striking doctors were looking for at least a cost-of-living pay increase, not just for themselves, but to help make medical salaries in New Zealand more competitive internationally.
“It’s about getting more staff, and making sure people don’t go overseas,” de Vries said.
She said a specialist with 15 years’ experience in New Zealand was paid less than a doctor on the first salary step in Australia.
“We’re putting a line in the sand. It’s really just a holding pattern.”
Warwick Smith/Stuff
It was not just about the money as striking Palmerston North Hospital senior doctors took to the street.
Their dispute was not just about money.
Carter said senior doctors expected and were prepared to work hard, but their pay and working conditions continued to be eroded, and they needed more colleagues so that they could take their rostered time off.
“Doctors are torn between burn out and moral injury.”
Internal medicine physician Colin Thompson said many of the issues about doctors struggling with backlogs of patients through the hospital were not new, and were national.
But Palmerston North had it worse than most because its facilities were inadequate, and it seemed to have been overlooked or ignored.
The ASMS returns to bargaining on Wednesday.
Unless there was a breakthrough, further strike action was planned for next Wednesday for two hours and the following Thursday for four hours.
Before the strike, Te Whatu Ora chief people officer Andrew Slater said it was “frustrated and extremely disappointed” that ASMS was “refusing” to take its latest offer for settlement to their members for consideration, following unsuccessful mediated discussions.
Slater said the improved offer made in mediation would give senior doctors and dentists’ salary increases between 7% and 12.9% over the next year, which he said amounted to increases of between $15,000 and $26,000.
Te Whatu Ora MidCentral management said in an email that care around the clock would continue at MidCentral during the strikes, with no changes to visiting hours or emergency care provisions.
Patients who had an outpatient appointment or surgery booked on the day of the strikes should attend as planned unless contacted.
People who needed emergency care should not hesitate to attend ED.
