KEY POINTS:
Top doctors believe they now have hard evidence to support their pay claim.
They say New Zealand is losing top specialists to Australia at the rate of one a week.
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says 80 senior doctors have left for Australia in the past 18 months or plan to.
Executive Director Ian Powell says members are keen to vote on the unprecedented step of taking industrial action.
He says it would be cheaper for Health Boards to accept a new collective agreement, than not to. He says if they do not settle it, staff shortages will increase and push up costs even further.
Mr Powell says among those most likely to walk out the door, anaesthetists top the list, followed closely by gynaecologists.
He says it comes as no surprise given the stresses and strains our health system is under and the high degree of inefficient management. And he says given better employment conditions in Australia, there is no contest.
Australia itself has major shortages, Mr Powell says, and hospitals there are recruiting aggressively, whilst District Health Boards here have lost their focus and are in denial mode.
- NEWSTALK ZB
