Doctors' pay gap 'really chasm'

The pay "gap" attracting senior doctors to Australia is more like a chasm, calculations by their New Zealand union indicate.

An analysis by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists shows that Australian public hospital staff specialists in their first year are on average paid a base salary plus universal allowances of A$196,200 ($256,085).

This is 53 per cent greater than a New Zealand first-year specialist's base salary of $128,596 - if you leave the Australian rate in Australian dollars, which the union says gives the fairest comparison because the buying power of NZ and Australian dollars is similar.

But if the comparison is done in NZ currency, the Australian rate is nearly 100 per cent greater.

A disparity of more than 50 per cent remains at year 9, the top step in most Australian agreements (without converting the Australian rate to NZ currency). This shrinks to 31 per cent at year 15, the top New Zealand step.

The New Zealand shortfall is far greater than was stated by last year's Health Ministry-appointed commission to inquire into "competitive and sustainable" conditions of employment for specialists.

It said: "We accept that New Zealand senior medical officers receive about 35 per cent less remuneration that their Australian counterparts. In our view, this gap is too big but we have not been persuaded that a major reduction of the gap is sustainable at present."

The union and district health boards have agreed on a 2 per cent pay rise from next January in a variation to the national collective agreement, while both sides work together on a "business case" for the Government to address the "heavy financial constraint facing the public health system and the serious recruitment and retention situation in the senior doctor workforce".

The union's executive director, Ian Powell, said solving the specialist workforce crisis required many actions, of which addressing the pay gap with Australia was foremost.

The DHBs' spokeswoman, Karen Roach, said they recognised vacancies existed in key specialties, but not necessarily across the board, and were trying to address the issues.

"These are not solely about the money. We are working with [the union] to look at how a sustainable workforce can be developed, making better use of current resources, and how better to utilise the existing workforce."