By MONIQUE DEVEREUX and FRANCESCA MOLD
Junior doctors and hospital management will try to resolve their ongoing pay dispute at talks in Wellington today.
Hospital management spokesman Baden Ewart said the two sides yesterday agreed to mediated talks to try to settle the dispute, which has resulted in strikes at a number of hospitals and the threat of more action in other centres.
The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) wants a 20 per cent pay rise, paid training, paid leave for conferences and accelerated salary progression after doctors pass exams.
Hospital management has offered a 9 per cent pay rise over two years.
If today's mediation is successful, Waikato Hospital's striking doctors - who walked off the job yesterday morning - could be back at work this week and strike action in other centres averted altogether.
Whangarei, Wanganui and Palmerston North doctors have already been on strike, while action is pending in Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Otago and Southland.
Waikato Hospital RDA representative Jamie Speeden said doctors would be willing to go back to work if the hospital management came up with a "much better offer."
"They [management] have been moving in the right direction over the past three or four weeks. Hopefully talks will be positive."
Waikato Hospital general manager Geoff Annals said the return of the doctors would be very pleasing.
The doctors' shifts are being covered by senior doctors and 40 non-union junior doctors.
Around 300 surgical procedures have been postponed this week. One senior specialist, clinical director (cardiac) Dr Clyde Wade, was in the emergency department yesterday instead of attending to his patients.
Dr Wade said around 140 cardiac outpatient procedures had been postponed, meaning some people would have to go to the back of a long queue "after already being on the waiting list for goodness only knows how long."
"And that's a real worry for me because some of these patients - in fact, the majority of these patients - will have serious cardiac problems that will need to be seen to. A high proportion of them will have to have surgery, that is, potentially urgent cardiac surgery."
One patient whose operation has been postponed said he was angry at the way the doctors were using patients as pawns.
Paul Scown, of Raglan, said the delay to his bowel cancer surgery had caused unnecessary stress. "My surgery has been put off, but I bet the cancer won't be on hold."
Parties hoping for deal in doctor pay dispute today
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