Category: Health

Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Public sector pay restraint a ‘kick in the teeth’

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says the Government’s ongoing public sector pay restraint is a kick in the teeth to senior doctors and dentists who keep core health services going and have kept New Zealanders safe and cared for during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press release on the Government’s Workforce Policy Statement, Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins has ruled out pay increases for those earning over $100,000 for the next three years.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says senior doctors and dentists will find it galling as it sends a harsh message to health professionals that they are not valued.
“On one hand the Government has been showering doctors and medical professionals with bouquets for their response to Covid, and on the other it turns around and swings a very heavy brickbat. It doesn’t make sense”.
In real terms pay restraint will send salaries backwards by about two percent a year.
“No matter what you earn, not being able to keep up with inflation is unacceptable. Falling behind is not a fair expectation,” Sarah Dalton says.
The pay restraint announcement comes at a time when senior doctors and dentists are battling serious staffing shortages, cramped and outdated facilities, and steady increases in acute patient demand – all of which have been acknowledged by the Health Minister Andrew Little.
Sarah Dalton says with an estimated 60% pay gap with Australia and the trans-Tasman bubble now open, the Government is pushing up the risk of losing more of our highly trained and skilled specialists.
“I think we all know that as a country we can’t afford for that to happen. We need our doctors to stay in New Zealand as part of a skilled workforce which is essential to economic growth, productivity and our post-Covid recovery”.
The Government has also asked for clinical leadership and support in the implementation of its health reforms.
“That support is now likely to be compromised,” Sarah Dalton says.
ASMS is disappointed to see the Finance Minister abandoning the government’s wellbeing agenda in favour of an austerity programme.
“We know that most of our health investment is tied up in people – as it should be. Now is not the time to apply downward pressure on our health system’s most valuable health resource – its workforce”.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Bold response to tackle stressed health system

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says the Government has chosen a bold path of health reform, but increased health funding and investment must sit alongside.
The Health Minister Andrew Little has announced a generational shakeup of the health system, which goes much further that the recommendations of the Health and Disability System Review.
ASMS applauds the Government’s decision to establish a Māori Health Authority with full commissioning rights, as a new pathway to deliver health equity for Māori and improve health outcomes for all.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton admits the scale of the changes announced, such as the disestablishment of all 20 DHBs and the creation of such a large, centralised Health New Zealand agency, is surprising.
“It represents a nationalised approach to the way we run our hospitals and has the potential to simplify and de-clutter the system for health workers and patients.
“It also needs to provide much-needed opportunities for direct input and decision-making by senior clinicians,” she says.
In announcing the reforms, the Health Minister admitted that frontline health care is understaffed.
“You can change structures all you like but at the end of the day our health system needs to be all about patient care — and that requires ongoing investment and the right resources in the right places,” says Sarah Dalton.
“Services such as cancer and mental health, where patients are facing long delays for treatment in many parts of the country, won’t improve without national workforce planning and measures to better recruit and retain specialists and other health staff”.
ASMS is waiting to see more detail on health funding and whether the government will increase investment in health overall.
“We want a public health system that we can rely on. That means everyone having rapid access to care, irrespective of where they live or what they earn.
ASMS also wants to remind the Government that ongoing engagement and consultation with health unions will be critical to the success of these reforms.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Urgent action required on cervical cancer self-swabbing

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora supports the call for the Ministry of Health to quit stalling the rollout of a life-saving and low-cost measure that will save the lives of many women and improve health equity.
Self-swabbing for cervical cancer was supposed to start in 2018 but has been put on the backburner by the Ministry.
Te Tātai Hauora o Hine director Dr Beverley Lawton, who conducted a pilot study of the proposed HPV self-screening, told RNZ that she was “totally baffled” by the delay.
Self-swabbing has been introduced in the UK and Australia. Not only does it reach more women through accessibility and privacy, but the test itself is better at detecting abnormalities.
“We too are baffled by the Ministry’s failure to introduce self-swabbing, and its excuse about updating the IT system are simply lame when it’s had years to make the necessary changes,” says ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton.
“We saw how quickly the government enacted changes to deal with the Covid pandemic, and how quickly the health system could adapt. There needs to be urgency for other aspects of health care, not least women’s health.”
Ms Dalton is urging the Ministry not to wait for the anticipated health reforms to enact this measure. While the health and disability system reforms are likely to see increased investment in IT systems, there will be a long lead-in time.
“Women are sick and tired of waiting for their health needs to be prioritised.”
“We know that some communities are not being reached by the screening programme. It’s time for the Ministry to walk its health equity talk and invest in women’s health. Here would be a good place to start”.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Update on Auckland and Northland JCCs

Due to the COVID-19 Auckland lockdown restrictions and that many of the ELT/SLT staff will be involved in IMT, the Auckland JCC scheduled for tomorrow is cancelled and a new date will be sent to members once confirmed.
Today’s Northland JCC is going ahead but will be a Zoom only meeting.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: All DHBs need to prioritise carbon footprint reduction

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists supports the Government’s commitment to a carbon neutral public service by 2025.
The health sector is responsible for between 4-8% of New Zealand’s carbon emissions.
Last week senior doctors and dentists at the ASMS Annual Conference passed a resolution to strongly advocate for all DHBs to join Toitū Envirocare – an organisation which measures and reports on environmental impact and gives certification.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says so far six of the DHBs have signed up.
“Those DHBs which already have a relationship with Toitū Envirocare and have appointed dedicated sustainability managers have made huge strides in reducing their carbon emissions. Other DHBs can learn from them”.
Sarah Dalton says climate is one of the biggest social determinants of health.
“Doctors know the health benefits that are associated with carbon emission reduction and many are leading sustainability initiatives in their own DHBs”.
Some of those initiatives are featured in an ASMS article ‘Walking the Talk on Sustainability’, which you can read here.
The ASMS Annual Conference also passed a resolution to advocate for the establishment of a national Sustainable Development Unit to co-ordinate and accelerate the health sector’s journey to become carbon neutral by 2040.
Sarah Dalton says a joined-up approach will be more effective when it comes to meeting these targets.
 
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Pleasing progress on pay equity in DHBs

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists is pleased to see an initial agreement reached between district health boards and the Public Service Association on pay equity for clerical and administration staff.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton says advancing pay equity is as fundamental as the role clerical and administration staff play in supporting the operation of our DHBs.
She says the agreement, which will lift pay rates for thousands of workers, is a big win.
“Senior doctors and dentists know the value of admin and clerical staff. It’s great to see pay equity being prioritised and DHBs starting to walk the talk on an issue which affects so many.”
Gender pay inequity exists across all levels of DHBs.
Research commissioned for ASMS last year showed a 12.5% gender pay gap among senior doctors and dentists.
ASMS is currently working with DHBs on a pilot programme to investigate the drivers of the gender pay gap in the senior medical workforce.  It hopes to complete a full audit of all DHBs next year.
“It is up to DHBs to ensure that workers with the same skills and experience enjoy the same salary and conditions as their colleagues.  Pay transparency would also be a useful next step in the pay equity fight,” Sarah Dalton says.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Building the workforce pipeline, stopping the drain

A report out today from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists warns urgent, co-ordinated action is needed to tackle staffing shortages and future proof the specialist workforce, or New Zealanders will increasingly miss out on the specialist care they need.
The report – Building the Workforce Pipeline, Stopping the Drain – is being launched at the ASMS Annual Conference in Wellington.
ASMS research shows an average 24% shortage of specialists in our public hospitals. It results in high levels of burnout and stress, along with a lack of non-clinical time and time to teach junior doctors.
“Ask our members what is the one thing that would most improve their working lives and improve patient care and they consistently say more staff,” says ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton.
“We know that stretched specialist services mean thousands of New Zealanders are missing out on treatment. Mental health, oncology, and neurology are three areas of significant under-supply, but we could name so many more”.
The shortages are compounded by an ageing workforce (the largest number of specialists fall in the 55-59-year age bracket). New Zealand also relies heavily on overseas-trained doctors.  They make up 43% of the specialist workforce (the second highest in the OECD) but often do not stay long-term.
Sarah Dalton says, “all up it can take 12-18 years to train a specialist, so we need solutions to start flowing into the pipeline and we need them now”.
“Unfortunately, workforce development and planning has historically been fragmented and there is very little data.  We need properly funded, centralised co-ordination and oversight”.
Among the report’s recommendations are for universities to increase the annual intake of medical students, and for the Ministry of Health and the Government to develop a Health and Disability Workforce Plan to provide targets for medical training and progression, and address equity and diversity in the medical workforce.
There is also a recommendation for DHBs and medical colleges to offer more flexible working arrangements for both medical trainees and specialists looking to retire.
Sarah Dalton says without action specialist numbers and supply will continue to be outpaced by population growth and the health needs of Aotearoa.
She adds that the Covid pandemic has added further uncertainty.
“We don’t know how easy or hard it will be to bring senior doctors to New Zealand, and we are already seeing disruption to the Australasian training pipeline, not to mention further afield. What this will mean to the current medical workforce in training, we can only speculate”.
The report will be discussed by a panel at the Annual Conference – see programme here.  The Conference is also being livestreamed – you can watch Day 1 and Day 2
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Full house for Annual Conference

We have had an overwhelming response from members wanting to come to this year’s Annual Conference at Te Papa, 26-27 November. Thanks to all those who have registered. Unfortunately, we have now reached capacity and are putting registrations on hold. However, we are offering a webinar option for those who want to attend.  To register for the webinar please email Cassey van Riel on cvr@asms.org.nz.  We look forward to seeing everyone, whether in person, or virtually, in Wellington next month.
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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Health Matters – Framing the full story of Health

Reducing demand for health care in New Zealand means targeting the growing inequities in Aotearoa. We know our members are regularly treating preventable illness and disease which have their roots in social factors such as poverty, racism, poor housing, unhealthy foods, and environments. That is why we’ve put together a new report Health Matters – Framing the full story of health.  We hope it will provoke some better national conversations about health, and some long term cross-party political commitment around health policy.
The post Health Matters – Framing the full story of Health appeared first on ASMS.

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Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Press Release/Statement:

Headline: Making a health bucket wish list for Northland

Some of the things that make Northland one of the best and most beautiful parts of the country also make it one of the hardest to support in terms of health. Many of you live hours away from hospitals, while roads and other transport access are not easily navigated.
The Simpson Review of our health and disability system, which was released in June, tried to look at what things might look like in the next couple of decades. Its findings are very broad.  Its recommendations now sit with the Government and like so many of these things, the devil will be in the detail.
One of the key points it made is that our current health system is not very joined up. I don’t imagine there are many people who would disagree with that.
But the real question for most of us will be, what will my access to the health system look like?  How might it change? Will my whānau be better off when it comes to healthcare over the next few years?
We think there are several things that could be picked up really quickly which would make a positive and visible difference in your region. We would probably go a wee bit further than the Simpson Review. Here is our list:

Visible, accurate, information about health delays, waiting times, and the current state of access to specialist care in your region. Specialist shortages in some of your hospital services are at critical levels. As an example, the last time I asked, Sleep Clinic wait times in Northland were upwards of three years.
free access to GPs and primary care, including dentists, physiotherapists, and health navigators with links to DHB, MSD, housing, and education. These would be established as local hubs, with strong iwi and community links and, ideally, with an on-site pharmacy and local drop-in and support centre.
DHB-employed GPs. This means you won’t be reliant on a profit-making business model to ensure there is a GP practice somewhere in your neighbourhood.
Health buses equipped and staffed so that, sometimes, hospital-based, specialist services will come to you. They would also work alongside local primary care providers to improve community-based care for patients and families.

That’s not the whole list, but I reckon it’s a solid start. Alongside all these, we need a better conversation about what our public investment in the health system really means. Having timely access to health care, whether that be GP, dental, or specialist care, costs us all. That’s why we pay our taxes. But it seems to me that it has been a while since we had an in-depth conversation about what we expect back from our investment.
Is it ok that there is no GP in your neighbourhood? Are you comfortable that some sub-specialist care is available in Auckland, and not further north?  We are a nation of just over five million people. It might be reasonable to expect that transplant surgeries only happen in major centres with tertiary hospitals, but is it acceptable to have a three year wait for a Sleep Clinic assessment in Whangarei?
What else do we expect our health taxes to provide? We know the government’s shopping list is even longer than ours, and there is only ever a certain amount of money in the health bucket. But if we are clear about what we expect, what constitutes our bottom line for public health care, maybe it’s time for a bigger bucket.
– ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton
As published in the Northern Advocate 19 September 2020
 
 
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