Editorial: Doctors' rosters need to change

Anna Wallis

YOU ARE in hospital. You are in critical care. The doctor in charge of your future has worked seven nights in a row, for 10 hours each shift. The doctor has taken over from another who has worked 12 days straight.

Feeling positive about your care?

Resident doctors, including about 40 in Whanganui, have voted to take strike action this month because of such rostering.

Nationwide, the 3200 members of the New Zealand Resident Doctors Association will strike for 48 hours from 7am on October 18. Their work will be covered by senior doctors and the 300 residents who are not in the union.

It's very hard not to be on the side of the residents, or junior doctors. The hours are horrendous, and decision-making at the end of such a long working "week" -- more than two weeks straight, in fact -- can't be optimum.

In fact, it seems odd that the most arduous hours are worked by the very people who need to be at the top of their game.

The reason why the hours haven't been changed seems to be money.

It's possible there is also pushback from senior doctors who argue if they survived such a regime, so should the doctors in training coming through the system. It's a specious argument and while heritage can be a good thing, it's not when it comes to patient safety.

Whanganui District Health Board has received praise from the union for making changes to rostering, reducing the number of night shifts resident doctors work in a row from seven 10-hour shifts to four. However, doctors are still expected to work 12-day shifts in a row.

The resident doctors are looking to reduce the 12-hour stints down to 10 days in a row, with a four-day break in between shifts. It is perfectly reasonable.

Whanganui needs to employ just 1.2 more doctors to completely rectify its roster.

Whanganui needs to do just that.

One health board has already done it -- Tairawhiti. If they can, the 19 other boards can to make the public health system safer.