Medical rules force DHB to rely on costly locums

Desperately needed overseas medical staff are opting for lucrative short-term contracts because of strict regulatory requirements. Photo / Supplied

Desperately needed overseas medical staff are opting for lucrative short-term contracts instead of filling permanent roles because of strict regulatory requirements, say senior Waikato health executives.

At its monthly meeting yesterday, Waikato District Health Board chief executive Craig Climo told members it was difficult to fill permanent roles by recruiting from the United Kingdom because of red tape around the crossover of qualifications.

This had contributed to the cost of locums, which was $6.4 million in the past year, to fill vacancies in medical, nursing, allied health and management and administration roles.

"We really have significant problems with people out of the UK trying to obtain registration. We keep banging on the door of the regulatory authorities but they are problematic to deal with."

Mr Climo said the issue had been raised with the Ministry of Health but the situation had not changed over the years.

"We need to turn up the heat. It's about protecting the public of New Zealand and not creating unreasonable supply barriers."

Health Waikato chief operating officer Jan Adams said it was easier for a medical professional from the UK to locum for six months under a practising certificate and supervision than move his or her family to New Zealand and risk failing the requirements.

"They can be a senior sonographer in the UK but here they basically have to be retrained ... so we are snookering ourselves."

She said allied medical positions were the worst affected, including physiotherapists, sonographers and medical radiation technicians.

At present almost half of the number of sonographer positions within the DHB's radiology department were vacant.

Board member and cardiologist Clyde Wade recently filled three long-standing vacancies with senior English doctors but he said any UK doctors who had completed their postgraduate training but did not have a Certificate of Completion of Training would struggle to get registered in New Zealand.

The Medical Council of New Zealand has defended its requirements. The council says the rules aim to protect Kiwis from dangerous situations, highlighted when Indian-born, American-trained doctor Jayant Patel was accused of gross incompetence while working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland.

In June 2010, Patel was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm, and sentenced to seven years in jail.

Medical Council of New Zealand chief executive Philip Pigou said the council's primary purpose was to protect the health and safety of the public.

"This includes ensuring doctors are competent to practise in their area of medicine when they are registered to work in New Zealand," Mr Pigou said.

"The council provides robust regulatory oversight to ensure doctors we register are competent. We aim to ensure all doctors practising here meet the required standards and that we do not have a Dr Patel in New Zealand."