Doctors in the area with the highest level of medical officer vacancy are looking for help

The latest data from Te Whatu Ora shows Tairāwhiti has a chief medical officer vacancy of more than 30% – the highest of all health districts.

Senior doctor, Alex Raines, speaking on behalf of more than 30 doctors who wrote to the joint decision-makers, says that things have reached a critical stage.

“Most of our departments are very short-staffed, some have 10 to 12% of the staff they should have,” he said.

Raines said the hospital currently has one part-time radiologist, one optometrist, one dentist, and one-third the number of anesthesiologists.

He said its operating space was half in some weeks, with only about 15 operating rooms, due to the lack of anaesthetists.

Raines said one of the anesthesiologists spent 50 nights on call this year – twice the amount they were supposed to work.

He said the children’s area is also struggling after one doctor quit and another took extended leave.

“The remaining staff were under so much pressure that we now have furloughs, and they have been reduced to less than half the staff they should have in keep their service going.

“Which means children in our area unfortunately have longer and longer wait times to be seen for referrals, and, of course, it means that the remaining staff have to provide a schedule of 24-7 calls, with only a few of them, which is unsustainable.”

Raines said that one optometrist who was a full-time equivalent of 0.8 was concerned about his patients.

“He brought up examples of people losing their sight because they couldn’t get in and be seen in time.”

The hiring of Te Whatu Ora to stop non-primary duties made matters worse, with doctors having to resign, Raines said.

“I spend a large part of my time every week as a recruiter trying to get junior doctors here, because we also have a shortage of junior doctors. I spend a lot of time every week I’m dealing with IT problems, because we don’t have enough IT support, so that effect has been significant.”

On Thursday, Reti told Parliament that help was on the way to Gisborne Hospital.

“The CEO of Health NZ has met with senior staff, a local management team is working with an international team to recruit for key roles that require a focused approach to fast-track,

“Health NZ is allocating HR resources to help Tairāwhiti develop a regionally specific retention and recruitment plan and Health NZ’s move to a region-based model will be an important step in ensuring Tairāwhiti can to get support from other hospitals for specialist services if needed,” he said.

But the minister has made no commitment to call on doctors to lift Tairāwhiti’s hiring restrictions or reduce employment levels to 10% within 12 months.

“Health New Zealand and I are committed to overcoming the long-term challenges that have plagued health care in the region,” he said.

Last week, Te Whatu Ora chief executive Margie Apa met with senior staff at Gisborne Hospital.

He said the organization was working on a number of ways to ensure the best possible care for patients in Tairāwhiti.

“I see our move to a regional model as the first step in this process where Tairāwhiti may need additional support from other hospitals for other specialist services,” he said. ,” he said.

However, the director of the Association of Medical Professionals Sarah Dalton said that alone will not solve the problem.

“The regional approach will not solve the problems that Tairāwhiti district is facing, they already have a dispersed community and very high demand.

“The people of Tairāwhiti on the East Coast deserve good face-to-face care, with people willing to live and work in the area. “Yes, there are services that will always need to be provided from outside of Gisborne … but for most of the care that people need here, it needs to be provided locally by local people,” he said. said so.

Dalton said it was unsustainable for the hospital to rely so heavily on locum coverage, and that it was a long-term waste of money.

He wanted more incentives for doctors to work in Tairāwhiti.

“It’s an area that clearly needs incentives for nurses … they need to have better conditions and conditions than those who choose to live and work in the cities, and the problem of work there and the problem of recruitment is must be there.

Dalton said the largest GP practice in the area, Three Rivers Medical Centre, which had recently cut after-hours and weekend services and closed its bookings to new patients had also increased extra pressure at Gisborne Hospital.

Te Whatu Ora said the newly appointed deputy chief, Cath Cronin, would meet with Tairāwhiti’s senior medical team next week to make further progress on resolving the concerns raised by the doctors.