Senior doctors welcome new Medical Council Chair
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The senior doctors’ union welcomes the election of Dr Curtis Walker as the Medical Council’s new chair. The Medical Council of New Zealand announced yesterday that Dr Walker, a renal and general physician at MidCentral District Health Board, is to take over the role from Auckland surgeon Andrew Connolly […]
Read More →Opinion: Ian Powell – Leadership needed on safe staffing
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists When Health Minister David Clark was publicly criticised for dropping a requirement on his health ministry to publish the results of a set of narrow and misleading health targets in public hospitals, I defended him. The Minister’s decision to drop this reporting showed a willingness to engage in a […]
Read More →Hospital specialists under increasing pressure due to under-estimated strength of strikes
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists “Health bosses have under-estimated both the level of support for the ongoing strikes by resident (junior) doctors and the impact on hospital specialists who are shouldering heavy workloads as a result,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). Resident medical officers (RMOs) who […]
Read More →Solution to district health board financial deficits rests with the Government
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists “The solution to district health boards’ financial deficits rests with the Government.” This was response to the published report that almost all DHBs were tracking towards financial deficits for the financial year ending 30 June from Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). Read the […]
Read More →Wellington GPs to strike again
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists GPs at Wellington’s Ora Toa Health practices will strike again tomorrow (FRIDAY) for a full day because of the employer’s stubborn refusal to include dentists in the collective agreement. This is the second full-day strike – the first was on Christmas Eve – and follows a series of shorter […]
Read More →Dear David – A new year challenge
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Health Minister David Clark could make a good start to 2019 by admitting there is a crisis in the specialist workforce, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) Executive Director Ian Powell says. Mr Powell says specialists working in public hospitals are disappointed Dr Clark has yet to commit to […]
Read More →Christmas Eve strike at five Wellington practices
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Doctors at five Wellington practices will strike for a full day tomorrow in the final action in a set of rolling strikes. Further strikes are likely in the new year because of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira’s continued refusal to allow dentist employees to join the collective agreement, says […]
Read More →Season’s greetings!
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The ASMS National Executive and national office staff wish you all a safe and happy holiday season. The national office will close early on the afternoon of Monday 24 December 2018 and reopen on Thursday 3 January 2019. If you have an urgent query over this period, please email […]
Read More →More GP strikes likely in the new year
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Efforts to avert a full-day Christmas Eve strike have failed, and further strikes are now likely, after Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira again refused to engage with the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). Twenty-one GPs at Ora Toa Health practices in Wellington are taking part in rolling strike […]
Read More →Last ditch effort to resolve industrial action
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) and Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira (Ora Toa Health) will meet tomorrow (Wednesday) in a last-gasp effort to resolve industrial action and prevent a full-day strike on Christmas Eve. Tomorrow will also see the fifth day of limited strike action when 21 […]
Read More →Second Wellington GP strike planned for tomorrow
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Doctors at five Wellington general practices are due to strike for an hour tomorrow morning, the second in a series of walkouts over the exclusion of their dentist colleagues from their collective employment agreement. Twenty-one doctors at Iwi health provider practices in Porirua, Cannons Creek, Titahi Bay and Newtown […]
Read More →GP strike to go ahead after employer refuses to budge
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Twenty-one doctors at five Iwi health provider practices will take the first ever strike action by New Zealand general practitioners tomorrow (Friday) after efforts to avert the strike failed. “This could have been avoided if the employer, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira, which runs Ora Toa Health, allowed its […]
Read More →Health Minister needs to support senior doctor accord for the safety of the workforce
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The senior doctors’ union says the Health Minister needs to get off the fence over the issue of a safe staffing accord for hospital specialists. “The Minister doesn’t seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation for hospital specialists,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried […]
Read More →Wellington GPs plan rolling strikes in the lead-up to Christmas over exclusion of dentists from collective agreement
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Doctors at five Wellington practices plan to walk off the job in support of their dental colleagues – believed to be the first time a strike has taken place in a GP practice. Twenty-one GPs employed by Te Rūnanga O Toa Rangatira (Ora Toa Primary Health) practices across Porirua […]
Read More →Senior doctors call on Health Minister to support safe staffing accord in public hospitals
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) is calling on Health Minister David Clark to support the development of a safe staffing accord with senior doctors and dentists working in public hospitals. “Hospital specialists, like nurses and other frontline health workers, continue to suffer from high workloads caused by […]
Read More →Senior doctors urge action on climate change
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Two senior health professionals are urging colleagues and the wider health sector to take a lead in the fight against climate change. Counties Manukau District Health Board intensivist Dr David Galler and CMDHB anaesthetist Dr Rob Burrell gave a presentation today at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) […]
Read More →Pressure on female doctors highlighted in new research
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Research carried out by the union for senior doctors and dentists has revealed a need for both attitudinal and structural change to encourage more women to participate in the specialist workforce. The study conducted by Dr Charlotte Chambers, Principal Analyst at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), involved […]
Read More →Senior doctors welcome recognition and pay rise for hospital service workers
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The union for senior doctors and dentists is welcoming news of a significant pay rise for thousands of hospital service workers. “These employees contribute to the smooth running of our hospitals, ensuring they are clean, safe places for patients,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried […]
Read More →Nice buildings – now the hospital specialists working in them need government action
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The union for senior doctors and dentists is welcoming the Government’s promise of more money to fix the country’s run-down and cash-strapped hospitals, but says equal attention must be given to tackling problems with the senior medical workforce. “We’re very glad that the Government is allocating significant amounts of […]
Read More →Health Minister must require health bosses to address specialist burnout crisis in public hospitals; more specialists needed
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The union representing specialists in public hospitals is calling on Health Minister David Clark to require the bosses running district health boards to prioritise fixing the crisis of hospital specialist burnout. “They need to act urgently – and be required to do so – to employ more specialists,” says […]
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