Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director on the funding for the medical sector, hiring of 50 doctors

The Government's being accused of having no vision for the struggling health sector. 

The Health Minister's announced $20 million dollars to hire 50 senior doctors, and $10 million for senior specialist nurses and allied health professionals. 

The Nurses Organisation says the funding is only a 0.2% increase in investment for nurses. 

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Mike Hosking she doesn’t want to rain on the parade, but she doesn’t think it achieves anything. 

She says it’s disappointing, given the report released last year that states New Zealand is short by 1,700 doctors and GPs.  

Dalton says nothing that has happened since has referred to that data or tried to address it in any concrete or tangible way.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A little bit of help coming. We've got an additional

(00:01):
fifty senior doctors and seventy five nurses. Association of Salary
Medical Specialists Boss Sarah Dalton is with this. Sarah, very
good morning to you, Sheldon mike Hawa. I'm well, indeed,
I know what you will say. But it's better than nothing,
isn't it?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well? It depends effectively. What the minister has announced is
fifty extra vacancies on an already very long vacancy list.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Where are they getting them from? By the way, through
a covert of senior doctors about the place.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh I wish, wouldn't that be nice? All I want
for Christmas seventeen doctor doctors?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Are we bringing them in or training them? Does this?
What does this actually achieve?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I know I hate to reign on the parade, but
I really don't think it achieved anything. I think it's
really disappointing. And given that last year's works was planned
put out by Health New Zealand that I identified finally
put a number on a shortage of senior doctors in
New Zealand seventeen hundred and that included GPS actually and
they said here's a number. This is how many we

(01:04):
think we need, and nothing that has happened since has
referred in any way, shape or formed through that data,
or has attempted to address it in any concrete or
tangible way. And you know the minister's announcement yesterday, which
is we're going to made up the doctors for some
areas in particular need. Well, you know we have one
of our members on the radio yesterday from Wipe it
up as saying, well, we could take twenty of those tomorrow,

(01:26):
and that's one place. And of course the same day
we've got if I to word of consulting with staff
in the National Public Health Service Data and Digital Directorate
about tens of millions of dollars of planned I call
them cost savings.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Does any of that, by the way, before you phone
completely dies, does any of that come from if Lester
Levy finds millions, Does any of that go to the
front line or not? Or is that just savings?

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, we think we're taking it from the front line.
There's nothing more frontline than our National Public Health Service.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, yeah, you're you're generalizing onto it. We we all
think of frontline as doctors and nurses, people who jab
things into my arm. If in the back rooms is
what we're saying, does that actually get to a doctor
or a nurse.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Well, I need to be really clear that the National
Public Health Service is really frontline. Like that is immunizations,
that is pandemic preparedness and response, that's border controls. You know,
it's a communicable disease. That is the real basics offline healthcare,
and we're in a hooping cough epidemic. Also data and

(02:30):
digital you may well call it back room, but the
real gains, other than finding enough staff, which is proven difficult,
you know, doctor's nurses, et cetera, would be having amazing
digital infrastructure, amazing electronic tools that help our people do
their jobs sufficiently and better. At the moment. Now it's
a clunker, yes it is.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
But having said that, I don't want to argue with you, Sarah,
because it's Christmas and I also like you. But we
have no money and Health New Zealand is bleeding to
a million and a half a month of way, but
it's a billion dollars a year. It's a disaster. We
have no money.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
I guess the commissioner like to talk about invest to
save and I think given the wider economic indicators of
listening to your previous interview, a health system that is
not able to care for people is a real additional
productivity drain on the economy. You know, people who have
well to work are again people who can't access care

(03:26):
who would otherwise be working and contributing is a problem.
So I think this government really needs to think about
what are the basics of healthcare and you know what buildings, equipment,
people do they need to deliver because and it's better
than a one year three year government term, right, So
we need a little bit of courage and a little
bit of foresight, but longer term can here.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
All right, good to see you appreciate it, Sarah Dalton.
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