Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists ED on the new regional directors at Health NZ

Transcript

Sarah Dalton: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists ED on the new regional directors at Health NZ · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In a throwback to dhb's Health New Zealand has appointed
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  Speaker 1: four new regional directors aimed at bringing decision making back
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to the local level. It comes just a week after
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the board was sacked and replaced with the commissioner. The
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton's with
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  Speaker 1: me now, Sarah, good morning, Good to have you on
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  Speaker 1: the program. First of all, does this seem counterintuitive to you?
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  Speaker 1: At one level we've got, oh, it's too much to bureaucracy,
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  Speaker 1: and now we're appointing four more managers.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, Ryan, We've already got regional directors in place,
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  Speaker 2: they've been there for a while. These new regional directors
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  Speaker 2: who will replace them have got a different set of
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  Speaker 2: responsibilities and delegations, including I think bringing oversight of commissioning
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  Speaker 2: or parts of the funded health sector back under their oversight.
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  Speaker 2: It's I don't know. For our members, you know, who
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: are working in hospitals at the front line, the biggest
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  Speaker 2: challenge I think is workforce and staffing levels, and you
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  Speaker 2: know their lack of colleagues and so there's been a
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  Speaker 2: lot of rhetoric from the government and from the new
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  Speaker 2: Commissioner lest A Levy that there is enough money, there
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  Speaker 2: won't be any more money, and that they can make
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  Speaker 2: do with what they've got, And that does not feel
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  Speaker 2: great from where we're sitting in terms of whether there
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  Speaker 2: are enough doctors out there to get the work done
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  Speaker 2: safely in an untimely manner.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: You're you're representing senior salary doctors and dentists and things
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  Speaker 1: like that. Have you noticed have your members noticed are
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  Speaker 1: changed in frontline staff, because that was the theory we
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  Speaker 1: would get rid of some back office and we would
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  Speaker 1: feel it more in the front we would have more
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  Speaker 1: people at the front. Do we.
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  Speaker 2: No. I've just been traveling around the country talking directly
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  Speaker 2: with members because we're going back into collective bargaining in
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  Speaker 2: a month or so to talk about their core terms
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  Speaker 2: and conditions, and they are they're desperate for more colleagues. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if less Levy and the new regional directors
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  Speaker 2: can show us data about where all these doctors are
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  Speaker 2: supposed to be, we would love to see it because
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  Speaker 2: what we see as people who are very stressed, who
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  Speaker 2: are working really hard, and who are really concerned about
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  Speaker 2: their inability to give the level of care to people
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  Speaker 2: who need it in a timely fashion. So things are
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  Speaker 2: very difficult out there, and so we don't have oversight
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  Speaker 2: as to the where the money exactly is going in
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  Speaker 2: terms of these budget provisions. But from the information I
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  Speaker 2: have seen, you know, a lot of it is about
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  Speaker 2: paying people that what they're worth. You know, there's been
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  Speaker 2: a little it's it almost feels like nurses are being
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: blamed for you know, we've we've recruited too many nurses
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  Speaker 2: too quickly. But that is a really weird thing to say,
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  Speaker 2: because there are still significant gaps out there. The fact
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  Speaker 2: that Healthy Zealand has been successful recruiting nurses is a
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  Speaker 2: good thing and we need to put other measures in
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  Speaker 2: place about the success of their health system, not just budget.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Sarah Dalton, thank you very much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Appreciate it. The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director,
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  Speaker 1: Sarah Dalton. For more from News Talks b listen live
• 3:33
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• 3:35
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