Source: Radio New Zealand
Labour MP Tangi Utikere wrote this week to health minister Simeon Brown outlining his concerns about the situation. RNZ
- Palmerston North MP calls for immediate response to shortage of specialists at city’s hospital gastro department
- Health minister says he’s made it clear to officials that recruiting new staff is a priority
- Last remaining permanent specialist leaves the department next month.
The Palmerston North MP is demanding an urgent fix to the shortage of permanent doctors at the city hospital’s gastroenterology department.
Labour MP Tangi Utikere has written to health minister Simeon Brown outlining his concerns about the situation.
Brown responded by saying officials were working to staff the service again and that he had made it clear this was a priority.
The department, which focuses on patients suffering from problems with their digestive systems, has just one remaining specialist doctor. He will leave next month, citing workload pressure and frustration that health authorities have not found a way to attract specialists to the provinces.
Utikere has obtained figures showing the service is funded for 5.6 full-time-equivalent positions.
“This is a critical service,and the situation it is currently in is just not good enough,” Utikere wrote to Brown. “Solutions need to be found urgently and it needs to be sorted now.”
Utikere said last year people had surveillance colonoscopies delayed, so staffing issues were not new.
“I’m concerned that this rapid decline in gastroenterologists will result in a severely reduced service that is further unable to manage demand,” Utikere wrote.
“Hospital management have acknowledged that gastroenterology is one of the biggest risks for Palmerston North Hospital.”
Health NZ is recruiting for new specialists and last week told RNZ offers of employment had been made, while one new doctor was due to start in September.
It was plugging gaps by using temporary and locum staff, and said it was trying to minimise the impact on patients.
Utikere asked Brown what the immediate and long-term plans were, so the service could meet the needs of the community.
In reply, Brown acknowledged the concern for Palmerston North and the wider Manawatū, saying the government was focused on making sure New Zealanders could access timely, quality healthcare.
“I have made it clear to Health New Zealand that addressing these workforce challenges must be a priority, and I am receiving regular updates on the actions being taken to manage pressures on the service and plan for sustainability.”
He said short-term measures in place included using specialists from elsewhere in the central region, outsourcing colonoscopies and managing waiting lists for procedures, so patients were prioritised according to clinical need.
Work was under way to strengthen the service by recruiting specialists from overseas, working with training colleges to increase the number of doctors specialising in gastroenterology and exploring ways attract specialists to regional centres.
“Despite these ongoing workforce pressures, I am advised by Health New Zealand that access to gastroenterology services is being maintained as a result of the actions that are in place and that acute services continue to be maintained,” Brown wrote.
“I want to be clear that it is my expectation that people in Palmerston North have access to a sustainable gastroenterology service and I will continue to monitor this progress.”
Utikere said the measures Brown outlined didn’t “deal with the incredibly urgent sense of need in the community”.
“I’m hearing that locals are extremely worried about access to healthcare at Palmerston North Hospital and how this will impact on their health, and they are right to be concerned.
“Our community should not be in this situation – it is unacceptable that MidCentral is relying on locums and outsourcing, and necessary management of wait lists means many are waiting far too long for an appointment.”
The government needed to sort the issue now, he said.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand