Richard Sullivan: Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer Doctor on the senior doctor strike

Over 4000 medical procedures are on hold today while 5000 senior doctors strike for better working conditions. 

This comes after eight months of failed negotiations with Health New Zealand. 

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says it's not going to fill workforce gaps without major improvements to pay and conditions. 

Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer Doctor Richard Sullivan told Mike Hosking waitlist times for procedures will now stretch out further. 

He says the more than 4000 procedures which have been delayed will impact on getting people earlier access to care. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of our ongoing coverage of this country doesn't
function very well. Theme, we have seen your doctors on strike.
Today four thy three hundred medical procedures are off Health
New Zealand Chief Clinical Office of doctor Richard Sullivan is
with us. A very good morning, more right, carry it
very well. Indeed, is this complex? Given you simply don't
do some stuff today, you schedule it for another day
and add it to the backlog.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
So look, that's a great question that you know. Obviously
we've got significant weight lists, you know, for a patient
to be seen and get treatment, and so any any
day of no treatment has an impact on the waitlist.
But we're pretty focused on trying to reduce those weights
to try and reduce the harmdre our patients. So the
fact that I overook it's more than a day, it's

(00:40):
sort of a few days leading up to a strike.
In the day after we have to reduce your capescy
So at all that extra four three hundred you know
number that's going to impact on you know, just trying
to give people earlier access to care.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Really, I don't want to get into the politics of
all of this, but but but is as a mechanism
does it change anything really? So people don't turn up
to work for a day? They said, yes, we get
you met. What changes literally?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, So I think probably the first point to make is,
you know it does change a lot because we have
to reduce our services significantly. And you know this is
a significant strike. You know, it's the twenty four hours
start at midnight finishes midnight tonight, and so we've had
to reduce our services, cancel our or postpones I say
our plan here, and so we've really put a real

(01:28):
focus on keeping a hospital safe today. That's probably the
most important thing and a really important message for our
communities are that if they need healthcare, do come in.
So our eedings, our meergorce departments are open, our hostels
are open, and we work closer to the union to
make sure that we have the right number of senenior
doctors on site to deliver the kear we need to.

(01:49):
So that's probably a key message for people to know.
But yeah, when you do that, yeah, well.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Let me I get all of that on a scale
of one team, though how strict you ten you can
barely cope one you breeze through today.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Well, look, I think we will be better five, so
we we're well prepared. We've done a lot of planning,
so we're confident. So far, we're six hours sending hours
into what we've had, no things coping well, and again,
as I say, we're working closely with the union to
make sure that we deliver that safe here. So I

(02:24):
think we'll get through today. I think the bigger issue,
as you say, is those tafear alls, those postponements of
KRE and that catch up and for those patients who've
got calls to say I'm sorry your operations been postponed
or you couldn't postpone, and we'll find your new time
on new days in the future.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Well, good luck with it. Dr Richard Sullivan, our Health
New Zealand Chief Clinical Officer. For more from the mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.