Health Minister Dr Shane Reti claimed the change would help fill gaps in the health workforce. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti claimed the change would help fill gaps in the health workforce. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists doubts fast-tracking registrations for overseas medical graduates will help fill the “critical gaps in the health workforce” as the Government claims.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti today welcomed the Medical Council’s announcement last week that some international medical graduates with an approved postgraduate medical qualification can apply for provisional registration through a fast-tracked pathway.
The pathway, open from November 1, would allow graduates from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia who were trained in areas including anaesthesia, dermatology, emergency medicine, general practice, internal medicine, pathology and psychiatry to have their registration assessed within 20 days.
“Speeding up a process that would usually take up to six months will help to fill critical gaps in New Zealand’s health workforce, sooner, and is just another step to improve Kiwis’ access to good, fast healthcare while we progress longer-term initiatives,” Reti said today.
The “longer-term initiatives” included increasing places at the Auckland and Otago medical schools and assessing the possibility of a third medical school in Waikato, which the coalition Government had promised to investigate but hadn’t yet committed to funding.
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton questioned how helpful the change would be. Photo / RNZ
Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said while the new pathway was “helpful”, she doubted it would address workforce gaps.
“What will help to fill critical gaps in the health workforce is to have our health system appropriately funded, to have the workforce plan for this year released that was supposed to be out months ago, and to have the needed workforce projections tied to budgets.
“This will make very little difference to the massive workforce gaps that we are grappling with, to be honest. It’s not unwelcome, but ... this isn’t the thing that’s going to make the difference.”
Dalton’s comments came amid widespread concern about shortages within health workforces as unions and Opposition politicians alleged health facilities were constrained by hiring freezes, a claim Health New Zealand denied.
Last month, West Coast residents marched through Westport in protest against the region’s “dire” lack of healthcare services after reports urgent care GP clinics would be replaced with a telehealth service.
Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy had been charged with cutting $2 billion of spending within the organisation after officials warned Health NZ would register a $1.76b deficit for the current financial year.
Central to the issue of Health NZ’s spending has been Levy’s claim that too many nurses were hired in the last year, leading to a budget blowout.
Dalton disputed that claim, saying: “We’re still short of nurses in lots of parts of the country.”
She said facilities might be reported as being fully staffed but that was only to what their budget allowed when in reality, more doctors were needed.
“Service leaders tell me that they’ve got some good people who would love to come and work here, and they’re like, ‘Oh no, we haven’t got the budget for that’.”
Labour’s health spokeswoman Dr Ayesha Verrall echoed Dalton’s concerns, claiming Reti’s statements were “light on details”.
“New Zealand needs more doctors but I doubt that this policy will fill the gaps or have any long-term benefits to ease the health system workforce situation,” she said in a statement.
“It’s an ad hoc band-aid over the much larger problem – underfunding and penny-pinching to find $2 billion in cuts.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
