Acute demand driving deficits
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Pressuring District Health Boards to reduce their deficits will exacerbate the critical shortfall being experienced in public hospitals dealing with significant increased acute demand, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). “Health Minister David Clark acknowledges DHBs are under pressure but says he […]
Read More →Health budget barely maintains the status quo
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists “On initial analysis of the increase for health in today’s Budget is virtually enough to maintain the current level of service overall but district health board funding falls short by around $300 million,” says Lyndon Keene, Director of Policy and Research for the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). […]
Read More →Health $3.2 billion under-funded since 2009/10
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists A pre-budget analysis conducted by the Council of Trade Unions and Association of Salaried Medical Specialists has highlighted a vast spending shortfall in health since 2009/2010. For the Health Vote to regain the spending power of the 2009/10 Health Vote and pay for the initiatives and additional costs announced […]
Read More →Doctor unions embrace common approach to issues arising from safer rostering efforts
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The two unions representing doctors in public hospitals have agreed on a common approach to addressing any problems arising from efforts to secure safer staffing rosters for resident (junior) doctors. The senior doctors’ union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), and the union representing junior doctors, the New […]
Read More →Bitter dispute could have unintended consequences for senior medical workforce
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists A winner-takes-all approach in the acrimonious junior doctor dispute could have the unintended effect of making hospital specialists think twice about district health boards as employers of choice, says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). He backed comments by Middlemore Hospital intensive care […]
Read More →Removal of pathologists from long-term skills shortage list unwise
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The senior doctors’ union says its concerns about the immigration status of pathologists have been acknowledged but the Government’s response falls well short of what is needed. Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has written to acknowledge the […]
Read More →Hospital specialists congratulate midwives on accord – and ask: what about us?
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists “Hospital midwives are to be congratulated for successfully negotiating a safer staffing accord – and now it’s the turn of hospital specialists to have a similar agreement with the Government to address the serious workforce issues they’re dealing with,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried […]
Read More →Phew!
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Phew is the reaction from Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) to the news that the Employment Relations Authority will undertake a ‘facilitation’ of the long-running toxic industrial dispute between the 20 district health boards (DHBs) and the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) representing […]
Read More →Senior doctors pleased health review chief understands importance of workforce
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists A focus on workforce in the Health and Disability System Review has been welcomed by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), but it cautions against any unsettling industrial changes. In an interview with The Specialist, the quarterly magazine produced by ASMS, review panel Chair Heather Simpson suggests it […]
Read More →DHBs urged to address hospital specialist burnout
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Stress, fatigue, and overwork are taking a toll on New Zealand’s public hospital specialists and District Health Boards need to do much more to support them, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) Executive Director Ian Powell says. Research conducted by ASMS in 2016 revealed a 50% burnout rate among […]
Read More →More questions than answers
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The Mental Health and Addiction inquiry report has laudable aims but lacks detail about implementation and side-lines those who work in the sector, says Lyndon Keene, Director of Policy and Research at the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) Published in ASMS magazine The Specialist on page 17-18, Mr […]
Read More →Acute hospital admissions grow despite increased use of GP services
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Acute hospital admissions are increasing well above the population growth rate despite increased use of general practice (GP) services, says Lyndon Keene, Director of Policy and Research for the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). This is one of the findings of an ASMS Research Brief looking at whether […]
Read More →Hospital specialist among the victims of Christchurch shooting
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists ASMS is saddened to report that one of our members, Dr Amjad Hamid, died in Friday’s mass shooting in Christchurch. Stuff website reports that Amjad Hamid, 57, was an SMO and rural hospital consultant at Hawera Hospital. Prior to that he was a senior doctor with a special interest […]
Read More →Senior doctors’ union acknowledges contribution of Waikato’s interim health chief
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists The senior doctors’ union says departing Waikato District Health Board interim chief Derek Wright provided much-needed stability in the wake of the Nigel Murray scandal. “The DHB desperately needed a steady pair of hands at the helm after former Chief Executive Nigel Murray left in disgrace,” says Ian Powell, […]
Read More →Senior doctors urge Government to address chronic pain burden
Source: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists “The Government needs to make sure the public health system has enough specialists to treat chronic pain to relieve the burden of suffering for patients and their families,” says Angela Belich, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS). She was commenting on new research published […]
Read More →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 […]
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