Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director on Labour's plan to cut down ED wait times

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Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director on Labour's plan to cut down ED wait times · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Labour is promising to cut ED wait times with an
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: immediate review of hospital beds that could open with the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: right staffing and they want greater accountability for patient care.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Corridor care being routine, deaths in emergency departments and nurses
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: declaring a state of emergency in them. Just this morning
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I met with some nurses who were saying they are
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: at breaking point.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And it also, of course, is promising three free GP
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: visits and a job for every new eligible New Zealand
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: trained graduate nurse. So to discuss this, we have Sarah
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Dalton with us. Sarah is from the Association of Salary
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Medical Specialists. She is the executive director. Good morning to you, Sarah.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Good morning.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Very good. Ending the hiring freeze. Have we got the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: capacity and the money for that?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we absolutely have to end the hiring freeze. It
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: has caused chaos in our hospitals. And I think there's
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: a lot to like about this announcement. I know people
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: are concerned about three free GP visits. Are there enough GPs?
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: And I think the answer to that is no. So
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that is a real challenge. And I think the other
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: thing that nobody is talking about is how many hospital
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: doctors and dentists we have as well. Obviously, we're the
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: union for senior doctors and dentists, but I am spending
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: a lot of time going around hospitals, talking to hospital managers,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: about what they're doing about addressing the gaps in senior
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: doctor staffing.
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  Speaker 1: My question though was do we have the capacity and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the money for that? We've got 12 new training places
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: for dentists, the first ups in 10 years and that
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: was a promise that was made two days ago by
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: National Do we have enough nurses in training and do
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: we have enough money to pay for the nurses to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: end the hiring freeze and to get the doctors for
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the free GP visits? That's my question Yeah.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: We do have the money for that. And I think
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: it's really a question about choices. And it's also the
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: costs that are hidden behind choosing not to make those
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: appointments and not to hire those people. You know, if
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: you think about smaller parts of New Zealand, hospitals are
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: often the largest local employer. By not investing in those hospitals,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: you are not investing in those communities. So there are
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: economic disadvantages as well as health disadvantages for not investing
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: in the health workforce we need.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: They want to train more extended care paramedics to treat
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: people safely at home in the community or even in
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the street. Does that make sense?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm absolutely pro-investment in health workforce generally, but
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I would say that the gap in every political party's
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  Speaker 2: agenda from what I've seen so far, nobody's talking about
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  Speaker 2: the senior hospital doctors we need. Hospital doctors are key
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: decision makers for patients being seen. So, you know, the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: hospital flow component of this policy announcement from Labour, which
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: makes real sense because But the people who are the
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: key decision makers there are senior doctors and nobody is
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: talking about the need to reinvest in that workforce. That
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: is something we would really love to see.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I'm getting the feeling that you prefer Labour's plan to National's.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do. Well, from what I've seen, there is
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: more to like there. We do absolutely need to own
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: up to the missing workforce. I have talked to the
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: current Minister of Health multiple times about the need for
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: workforce targets. I don't love the targets that are being
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: used at the moment in the way they're working, but
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: if a government has wedded to targets, where are the
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: workforce targets? We need to invest in the people. At
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the moment, we're seeing gaming of targets and and we're
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: seeing significant numbers of people missing out on care. The
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: other thing we don't see here, we know from the
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: College of Emergency Medicine that at least 8% of the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: people who show up in EDs leave before they're able
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to be seen because the waits are so long. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: there's a whole business about unmet need that isn't being
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: measured or owned up to. But yeah, workforce investment has
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to be a key part of any new government's health policy.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Sarah Dalton, I thank you for your time today, the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Executive Director of the Salaried Medical Specialists.