Patients at risk as surgeon numbers fall

A chronic shortage of neurosurgeons in the North Island is putting unsustainable pressure on surgeons, potentially putting patient safety at risk.

The North Island has about half the number of neurosurgeons it should have based on its population, said Dunedin neurosurgeon Dr Grant Gillett.

The shortage meant that neurosurgeons were working unacceptably long hours, handling high patient caseloads and potentially compromising patient safety.

Neurosurgeons at Auckland's neurosurgical unit work well in excess of 50 hours a week and are on call one in every four days as well as every fourth weekend.

Dr Gillett said that so intense was the concentration needed during brain surgery that a lapse could not only endanger a patient's life but also ruin a career.

 

Auckland has four neurosurgeons and Wellington three, making seven for the North Island.

"There should be at least 15 to 20," said Dr Gillett. On average, there is one neurosurgeon in the North Island for every 430,000 people, more than twice the number recommended by the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia.

A neurosurgical unit under development at Waikato Hospital will increase North Island neurosurgeon numbers by three, but will leave the ratio of neurosurgeons to population well below the 150,000 to 200,000 recommended.

Waikato Hospital's head of surgery Theo Gregor said that, as well as not training enough neurosurgeons, New Zealand did not pay them enough to keep them here or to recruit from overseas. He said Waikato's neurosurgical unit had failed to recruit the two extra neurosurgeons it needed.

Dr Gillett said neurosurgeons overseas were paid up to five times more than in New Zealand.

Neurosurgeons in New Zealand received a basic annual salary of between $111,000 and $161,000 plus overtime and availability allowances, said executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Ian Powell.

- Herald on Sunday