KEY POINTS:
A call by District Health Boards (DHBs) for a meeting to discuss how to improve working conditions has been welcomed by the junior doctors' union.
Convening such a meeting is part of the DHBs agreed settlement with junior doctors. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed last month after a long-running pay and roster dispute between resident - or junior - doctors and DHBs.
Under the agreement, the doctors receive a 5.8 per cent pay rise, a measure estimated to cost DHBs $10 million over 18 months.
About 2500 junior doctors went on a five-day strike in August after contract talks broke down in June.
The nationwide industrial action reduced services at hospitals, affecting the care of 17,000 people.
The collective agreement is effective until next July and, the union has warned if the conditions of the agreement were not met, the issues would be brought back to the bargaining table in the next round of negotiations.
NZ Resident Doctors Association secretary Deborah Powell said the union was notified yesterday of the DHBs' intention to set up a meeting.
"We welcome the opportunity to meet DHBs to discuss how to improve our conditions of employment."
Neither party had confirmed any details, she said.
- NZPA
