Doctors ‘desperately’ needed, but grads have to wait

Newly-graduated doctors will not be able to start working in our ‘‘severely stressed’’ hospitals until late January, their union says.

A new cohort of New Zealandtrained doctors graduate each November, and – until last year – began working in November or December. However, a decision made last year by then-district health boards saw the start date pushed out to the end of January.

Yesterday, the NZ Resident Doctors’ Association (the union representing resident doctors) said returning to the traditional employment model had been raised as an option to assist a workforce blighted by a ‘‘severe shortage’’ of doctors and ongoing patient workloads – but this was denied.

Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand) told the union it would not allow newly graduated doctors to start working in hospitals until next year, NZRDA national president Dr James Anderson said.

He said Te Whatu Ora cited supervision and orientation concerns as the reason why.

It ‘‘makes no sense’’, he said. ‘‘We have a workforce we so desperately need, qualified, ready and willing to work, and yet Te Whatu Ora won’t employ them for another two months.’’

Anderson said the ‘‘excuse’’ of supervision and orientation concerns, ‘‘is in our view, exactly that’’.

New doctors were supervised by currently employed house officers and registrars, he said.

There were about 500 qualified, final year medical students this year, and roughly 200 were ready and ‘‘wanting to work’’ right now, Anderson said.

Amid a workforce ‘‘crisis’’, ‘‘bureaucratic nonsense’’ was preventing them from starting during this period, he said.

‘‘The workforce is really not coping, but we can’t get them allowed to work.’’

A spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora said the 20 DHBs that previously comprised Health New Zealand went through extensive consultation before the change was put in place, to strengthen training, staff welfare and services to patients.

He said the shift from November to January enabled newlyappointed first-year doctors to be supported into practice, particularly with more senior staff on leave over the Christmas and New Year period, and ensured new graduates got a break before starting their careers.

‘‘New Zealanders can have confidence that, as in previous years, this will not affect our ability to staff services over the holiday period.’’

‘‘We have a workforce we so desperately need . . . yet Te Whatu Ora won’t employ them for another two months.’’

Dr James Anderson