Junior docs plan new year strikes

Junior doctors have more strikes planned for the new year after bargaining over their work hours came to a halt following a dispute about a suggested ‘‘lifestyle’’ roster.

This year, doctors began striking in protest at what New Zealand Registered Doctors Association national secretary Dr Deborah Powell said were unsafe working hours.

The association reported some junior doctors were working 10 days in a row, with the average junior working 53 hours a week, and some were falling asleep while driving because of their heavy workload.

Yesterday the association announced further strikes were planned for three days beginning at 7am on January 17, and finishing at 8am on January 20.

The doctors went on strike for two days in October while they continued talks with the country’s 20 district health boards (DHBS).

However, the back and forth had reached a standstill, primarily over the association seeking its members be given rostered time off at weekends so they could spend time with family and friends.

Other outstanding issues included workloads, issues around rostered days off and who had the ultimate say over rosters.

Agreement had previously been reached that doctors taking time off would be replaced by another worker, however DHBS had since said that doctors on duty would have to pick up the work of missing staff in addition to their normal workload, Powell said.

‘‘To the resident doctors, this means safer hours but unsafe workloads.’’

Given the concessions doctors had made, including working back-to-back weekends and taking time off during the week, they were now seeking some time off over weekends, the association said.

‘‘In recognition of this disruption to our lives, we want at least some of our time off to be around what weekends we do have free, so we can have some meaningful quality time with family and friends,’’ Powell said.

In a statement, the DHBS said they had received notice from the Registered Medical Officers’ union (RMO) that strike action would take place, ‘‘despite DHBS providing contractual commitments to introduce new rosters which would give the junior doctors some of the best working hours in the world’’.

The DHBS said they had agreed to reduce the number of consecutive days doctors be rostered on, but that talks had broken down over ‘‘demands’’ for time off over weekends.

Lead chief executive for the DHBS employment relations programme, Julie Patterson, said the roster the doctors were asking for would impact on their ability to deliver services to the public.

‘‘This shift in the union’s position to now be demanding ‘lifestyle’ rosters will significantly impact on our ability to deliver quality and timely services to the public,’’ Patterson said.

‘‘Hospitals provide services 24 hours a day, seven days a week and as we all know, people don’t get sick only between 8am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

‘‘This union demand means DHBS having to schedule all patient services to fit around RMO rosters.

‘‘We have dealt with the health and safety issues raised by the union, it’s time the union started to acknowledge that DHBS are here to serve the health needs of New Zealanders, not just the pay and lifestyle interests pursued by this union.’’

The DHBS said that as a result of the two-day strike in October, almost 1000 surgeries had to be rescheduled. – Fairfax NZ