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A supervisor was on the verge of shutting a busy hospital this month because it was so short of doctors.
A crisis at Thames Hospital has prompted the call for a public meeting on Thursday so the community can vent its concerns.
But the Waikato District Health Board says doctor shortages are a nationwide problem, and competition among health boards for locums is making it increasingly difficult to find staff for Thames.
One health worker said the locum market was so hot that another health board recently flew two doctors from South Africa to cover staff shortages.
Beside fees, which could top $1000 each day for senior doctors, locums' flights and accommodation had to be covered.
The situation at Thames is so bad that the Waikato District Health Board yesterday said its clinical leader for medicine, cardiologist Clyde Wade, had been seconded from Waikato Hospital in Hamilton to Thames to help.
Dr Wade will provide support to hospital manager Jacquie Mitchell and clinical director Dr John Lennane.
Dr Lennane has become increasingly frustrated at the shortage of junior doctors at the hospital, publicly protesting about the danger to patient safety.
He said yesterday he nearly closed the hospital on one day early this month because no doctor was available to cover the evening shift.
He believed he was responsible for looking after patients, not staff recruitment, and had considered resigning in recent weeks because of his personal stress and workload, and the attitude of the district health board.
"I've gone public because the risk to patient safety is unacceptably high," he said.
Dr Lennane said health board managers had told him to tone down his public statements.
"I've gone out on deck and given my views and been told 'that's enough for now'."
A claim has been made that a trainee intern was offered a medical position to cover temporary vacancies.
Waikato District Health Board health services general manager Jan Adams said the allegation was "categorically untrue", because a formal offer was not made to the intern.
But Resident Doctors Association general manager Deborah Powell said an informal proposal was made.
Dr Adams said yesterday the past few weeks had been rough.
"I feel a bit under seige," she said. I wouldn't call it a crisis but it's an issue of concern that has been building over a long time."
Attracting and retaining permanent fulltime doctors was a major issue.
The board had been determined to "hold the line" on agreed union rates paid to locum doctors, something she acknowledged could be working against it.
"Once we break ranks then the next person [recruited] tries to ratchet it up."
She did not know details of what other health boards were doing, but did know of deals being done over appointments.
Waikato District Health Board member Sally Christie has organised Thursday night's meeting, and said she was expecting a big turnout.
"We can't go on having claims and counter-claims played out in the media."
Dr Adams said she would be at the meeting.
"We have nothing to hide. We're doing all we can to recruit medical staff for Thames but there is a nationwide shortage of doctors. We're not alone in this - Australia is facing similar problems."
It is expected Coromandel MP Sandra Goudie and Thames-Coromandel mayor Philippa Barriball will also be there, with Dr Lennane, Dr Wade, and Ms Mitchell.
Thames has four fulltime junior doctors, but two are due to leave next month, said Dr Lennane.
"There's the possibility of one coming on board shortly but that hasn't been finalised, so I guess the net outcome will be three. It should be six."
Locums and casual staff were being used to ease the problem.
The Waikato health board said the equivalent of 7.3 fulltime locums had been used at Thames since January to cover the emergency department and medical wards.
"We have also used one fulltime senior medical officer locum for six months to cover sick leave, and use locums in anaesthesia from time to time to cover annual leave," said Jan Adams.
She said using locums caused its own problems.
"It does allow doctors to choose the hours they work, and to come and go without ongoing responsibility for the patients.
"Medicine is a 24/7 profession, which doesn't sit easily with preference for a more defined balanced working life."
