Luxon’s Health Targets Delusional Without Workforce Measures

Healthcare targets announced by Prime Minister
Christopher Luxon yesterday are delusional, says the
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists – Toi Mata
Hauora.

ASMS’ comments come after the Prime Minister
announced nine “ambitious” government goals on Monday to
“help improve the lives of New Zealanders”, two of which are
in health.

“Without senior doctors in emergency
departments to perform the work needed to achieve the six
hour target, the government is not just being naive, they
are self-deluding,” says ASMS Executive Director Sarah
Dalton.

ASMS says if the Prime Minister is serious
about meeting his targets he first needs to give Te Whatu
Ora targets to reduce the length of time it takes to fill a
vacancy, to provide an accurate measure of current staffing
and unfilled vacancies, and introduce a measure to ensure
doctors are taking their annual leave.

“Te Whatu Ora
takes far too long to fill vacancies,” says Dalton. “Someone
leaves and it is never straightforward to get the vacancy
advertised. How about a target that vacancies will be filled
within four months?

“Te Whatu Ora does not have an
accurate count of senior doctors in post compared with its
budgeted FTE. As a result they don’t really know where
they are starting from to meet the Government’s
targets.

“Staff shortages are a factor, both in longer
stays in ED and wait times for elective
procedures.”

“Thirdly, as much as finding new doctors
is a challenge, we also need to think about keeping the
doctors we have and preventing burnout. Neither of the Prime
Minister’s targets will ever be achieved if doctors are
burning out and leaving the profession. As of March last
year Te Whatu Ora had 1024 years of accumulated annual leave
for senior doctors. To protect our existing workforce we
need a target that 95 per cent of doctors will be able to
take their leave in the year they earn
it.

“The Prime Minister said his targets
were not here to do what is easy but to do what is needed.
Let’s get our priorities right. We need to look after our
public health workforce, so they can serve the patients
waiting for
care.”

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