Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director on Health NZ's $934 million deficit

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Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director on Health NZ's $934 million deficit · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Health New Zealand's financial position remains on what would you
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: call it life support quarterly performance report out yesterday. It
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: showed the financial performance declined significantly in the three months
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to June this year, a one billion dollar deficit for
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the last financial year. The slump came after a two
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: hundred and ninety nine million dollar forecasted surplus in the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: previous quarter. What's going on here? Sarah Dalton is the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Association of Salaried Medical Specialist Executive Director. Sarah good morning.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Ryan, How are you very well?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Nice to have you on the show. This
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: is interesting because it says staffing costs are up. There
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: are some one off impairments, but staffing costs are up,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: there's outsourcing going on, and yet we're actually starting to
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: meet some of these targets.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of a mixed bag. I think it's
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: also really important to note that more than five hundred
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: million of that deficit is money that should be in
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: there to deal with pay equity settlements that hasn't been
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: passed across by CADNET and so, you know, it's a
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: little bit of not quite what it seems in there,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: do you know what I mean?
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  Speaker 1: But trickery.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that must be really frustrating for the for
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the director. It's all of whom have been told they
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: have to make significant cuts to their costs over the
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: next financial year to try and deal with you know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: this problem, this ongoing problem they have balancing their books.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: You know, they're still struggling to deal with holidays discrepancies
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that has been going on for years, and the payroll
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: systems are so problematic that it is taking a very
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: long time to sort that stuff out. And all of
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: there's really you know, secondary to the points you raise
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: about actually delivering health care to people who need it.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I understand that, but I mean, is this not more proof?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Does this not strengthen the case for for more cuts?
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Well, watch what happens because listening to what we were
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: told Marzida meeting with the health unions and to start
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: to order just this week where we had presentations from
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Public Health Services, Mariine, Pacific Health Services, Data and digital
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: strategy and innovation, they're all going to be dealing with
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: significant cuts. Some of that's going to impact staffing levels,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: some of that's going to impact things like the ability
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to roll out digital solutions that will make systems and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: staff more efficient. It will make it easier for them
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to do their jobs, easier to see people quickly. Radiology
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and pathology services, which are the things that patients don't
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: often think about, but they are really critical to forming
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: diagnoses and setting out treatment pathways. They have heavy reliance
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: on data and digital and that's not functioning effectively for them.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: That is going to make inefficiencies and costs down the line.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: So a lot of some troubled waters ahead. But on
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the face of it, these measures, the metrics and non
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: financial stuff, you know, the things seem to be it's
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: tiny fractions, but it seems to be improving. If you
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: look at cancer wait times, emergency department surgeries, etc. Etc.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Most of those measures seem to be improved slightly, which
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I mean that must be a good thing.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I don't think the improvements. I'm sorry, I'm going to
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: ruin your tea party, but I don't think the improvements
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: are significant enough for us to take particular comfort. And
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: also what our members tell us and our senior doctors
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: indentists out there on the front line and hospitals that
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: are are still significant staff and gaps, particularly medicals. So
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: we're seeing lots of junior doctor gaps, which means a
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: lot of the senior doctors our members are having to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: cover their work as well as their own. It's not
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: an efficient way to run our hospitals, and a lot
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: of our hospitals are still running out one hundred percent plus.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: So Sarah, you're taking that boastful, bashful press release from
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the minister yesterday and you're ripping it right up, aren't you.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: That's what you're doing.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I was in we Sport over the weekend,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: you know, with a quarter of the population who are
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: protesting about proposed cup for Health eccess know and look
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: at the need and New Zealanders qure deeply about access
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: to health and.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: We need better, all right, Sarah, thanks for your time
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: this morning nights to have you on the show. Sara
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: Adults in Association of Salaried Medical Specialist Executive Director. For
• 4:26
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• 4:30
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• 4:32
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