Senior Doctor Recruitment and Retention Vital - CTU

“If public hospitals and health services are to continue to offer an accessible, quality and highly regarded service they must be able to recruit and retain senior doctors,” CTU president Ross Wilson said today.

“In order to retain staff, the DHB needs to be offering reasonable conditions of employment, sufficient to keep staff in New Zealand.”

“That senior doctors may be taking historic industrial action in support of their wage proposal indicates the serious nature of the retention problems facing our hospitals.”

“The worrying reality of senior doctors exiting to Australia in search of better pay and conditions is having a significant impact on those doctors working here, and is clearly unsustainable,” he said.

“A resolution to this dispute needs to be found quickly for all involved,” Ross Wilson said.  “The DHB suggestion of arbitration which has come as a surprise is up to the ASMS to work through, but the meetings now under way show the level of concern from doctors is very high and that cannot be ignored.”