Waikato DHB risks losing accreditation

HAMILTON: Waikato District Health Board has been put on notice over the training of junior doctors in orthopaedics because of a serious imbalance in the types of surgeries they are learning.

The DHB has 15 months to correct the situation, where registrars are not performing enough elective surgeries to meet training requirements, or face losing accreditation in orthopaedics.

Accreditation has already been lost in another service, obstetrics and gynaecology in November 2015, but a cancelled accreditation in orthopaedics would plunge the tertiary and major trauma hospital into crisis.

It would mean the departure of at least eight 24/7 registrars who are in advanced training in the fiveyear orthopaedic programme, so that they could continue training at other accredited hospitals around the country.

Without accreditation, which can take years to get back, senior doctors would face more pressure, including longer hours in a department in which staff shortages were a concern late last year. — NZME