Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director on new reports revealing hospital referrals are being knocked back

Patients referred for hospital treatment aren't even making it onto waiting lists.

RNZ's obtained part of a letter to a GP from an orthopaedic clinic that confirms some referrals are being knocked back.

It says the decision's forced on them by a lack of resources to let them see all referred patients within the limits of Ministry of Health waiting time targets.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton says she thinks they're trying to inject some realism into the situation.

"I think the point they're making is that if they put someone on a waiting list like that at this time, that person is never going to make their way up." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heller do for see Alie. So there's been a report
that specialist doctors are refusing to see patients because the
waiting lists are already too long. And this has come
about because a letter from Palmeston North Hospital's orthopedic clinic
to a GP says a patient can't be accepted the
waiting time targets have been leaked to media because of
the waiting time targets. Rather, Sarah Dalton is the executive
director of the Association of Salary Medical Specialists and is

(00:21):
with us now.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hey, Sarah, Hey, how are you doing very very well?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Thank you that we've got one example here, But is
this happening more regularly?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, but I would reframe it. They're not refusing to
see patients. They physically cannot given the resources they currently have,
the staffing levels we currently have, the access to clinics
and operating theaters and hospital beds we currently have. They
want to see those patients, believe you me.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
But why can't they just put the people at the
bottom of the waiting list and then let the people
work their way up.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think the point they're making is if they put
someone on a waiting list like that at this time,
that person is never going to make their way up,
and so they are trying to inject I think some
honesty and some realism into what we call unmet needs.
So we are a wash in secondary unmet need in
New Zealand, which is all of those people who need
care but can't access it because of rationing. So making

(01:12):
a statement yeah, I think so, but also being honest,
like it is so frustrating. I was listening to the
GPS on the radio this morning saying, this is a
real problem for us. We don't have the resources we're
being asked to manage these patients. We're only referring them
because they need hospital level care. We know that our

(01:32):
members know that. It is a real frustration. So basically
that funders and decision makers further up the heap are
leaving it on the shoulders of specialist GPS and hospital
specialists to say, hey, you sort it out.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
Okay, this is not about gaming the waiting time targets.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
It is not from the perspective of our members, the
senior doctors. They are trying to say, hey, we need
to talk honestly with people about what we're able to
do at the moment. The government setting targets without providing
resources to meet them. That's a game all of its own.
We could talk about that. There will be pressure on
hospital managers to gain the targets, to show that they

(02:14):
are making progress against them. It is a real, really
problematic way to try and manage the pressures on our
health system.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Sarah, thank you appreciate it. That's Sarah Dalton, Association of
Salary Medical Specialist Executive Director. For more from Heather Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news talks the'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.