The expense of junior doctors working additional hours to cover workforce shortages has surged past $70 million annually, according to figures provided by Te Whatu Ora.
A report in state media revealed that costs for the 2022-23 period were more than double the previous year’s $33 million and 2.6 times higher than the $23 million spent in 2020 when the pandemic stretched medical resources.
In June 2022, Health NZ doubled the rates paid per shift to junior doctors in response to significant roster gaps. The elevated pay rates continued beyond their intended end date to address lingering shortages. Health NZ confirmed that some shifts remained unfilled, especially for evening, night, and weekend hours.
‘My reaction when I saw the figures was: ‘Wow, it really is that bad,” said Dr. Deborah Powell, national secretary of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA). Despite being taken aback by the numbers, she wasn’t surprised given the 400-500 vacant resident doctor positions.
Junior doctors were compensated at almost twice the regular rate for ‘additional duties,’ covering gaps in evening, night, and weekend shifts on top of their regular hours. Though meant to be a temporary measure, the higher rates persisted due to ongoing workforce gaps. Health NZ noted the payments were necessary to incentivise doctors to fill these difficult shifts.
Dr. Powell highlighted the challenge of balancing costs, as filling gaps with high pay takes away funds that could be used for regular salary increases to retain staff. ‘It’s a vicious cycle,’ she said, explaining that junior doctors are not exploiting the system but working extra hours to cover necessary shifts.
Health NZ took over a year to deliver the requested data to RNZ, which should have taken five weeks. ‘I am very sorry for the delay,’ wrote Sasha Wood, head of government services.
Recent government orders require districts to save $105 million in staffing costs by June, and the escalating costs of junior doctor wages have put pressure on their budgets. Districts like Whanganui confirmed that the higher rates will impact their bottom line.
The Resident Doctors Association, representing 2,500 junior doctors, recently began striking over pay issues, with a two-day strike planned for next week. Despite some being offered a 20% raise, others are facing a 12% pay cut, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.
Regional figures showed significant increases in costs: Northland’s payments rose nearly fourfold to $3.2 million, Waikato’s tripled, and MidCentral’s payments increased 2.6 times. Capital and Coast, which saw a 2.3-fold increase, had the highest total additional duties and cross-cover costs at $13.4 million.
Addressing the workforce shortages, Health NZ’s chief people officer, Andrew Slater, acknowledged the impact on frontline staff, stating that an additional 50 medical school slots are opening this year to bolster training. He assured that Te Whatu Ora was developing support services for junior doctors to mitigate the challenges faced due to these shortages.
Image credit: Derek Finch
Lots of medical people were laid off because they wouldn’t take the experimental, unsafe and ineffective, CONVID jab. I suspect many have left NZ or simply retrained/retired. Combine that with govts and bureaucracies populated in large part by opportunists and fools, plus under funding and here’s the inevitable outcome.
I’ll keep on saying it, you get what you vote for……..
It doesn’t matter what you vote for.
You get the same thing anyway.
More and more people are beginning to understand that.