KEY POINTS:
Junior doctors in Auckland will be paid up to $150 an hour to work some extra shifts under a deal to address drastic shortages and improve safety.
Vacancies for house officers - doctors in their first post-graduate years - have reached 80 per cent in some of the region's public hospital departments and shortages have forced one service to close several times this year.
It is hoped that the formal agreement to raise the rates for the unpopular shifts will attract back medical staff who have left for reasons including child-rearing.
The former extra-shift rates for permanent staff were minimums of $60 and $45 an hour respectively.
The new rates, negotiated with the junior doctors' union, match the rates often paid to casual staff, which have risen sharply as the shortages have worsened with more junior doctors opting out of permanent work.
The union says that for normal work, house officers start on just over $21 an hour and registrars $25 to $26. The new extra-shift rates came into effect on Friday and will apply until late November for house officers and early December for registrars.
A memo from the junior doctor co-ordination service of Auckland's three district health boards, obtained by the Herald, indicates the severity of the shortages.
"Currently vacancy rates for the fourth quarter are running at an average 25 per cent for house officers, with some services experiencing up to 80 per cent vacancies.
"Efforts to recruit into vacant positions continue with a number of strategies being implemented ... However, it has become increasingly difficult to staff many services and the impact on all professional groups has been significant."
Union general secretary Deborah Powell said the new rates appeared to have helped over the weekend.
NIGHT SHIFT RATES
* $150 an hour for registrars doing extra or casual shifts at night, weekends and Friday evenings.
* $120 an hour for house officers.
