Doctors and nurses are being forced to do more admin as cuts to the health sector hit support staff. File photo. Photo: Unsplash / RNZ
Hospital admin staff are losing their jobs or not being replaced, forcing stressed doctors and nurses to pick up their workload on top of their own.
Angry health workers have told RNZ that the short-sighted cuts are already hurting patients, and will cost the health system more in the long-run.
One admin worker - who has just lost her job with a hospital service in the Wellington region - said patients' wait times had already blown out by 14-16 months.
The service manager was "completely blindsided" to be told the fixed-term position could not be renewed or made permanent, she said.
Short sighted cuts hurting patients say angry health workers
Have you been affected by health worker shortages or budget cuts? Share your story here: ruth.hill@rnz.co.nz
"Our service is in a staffing crisis, the wait times are unacceptable, its causing distress for both our patients and clinicians.
"I can't understand why my role has been affected. I am patient-facing, I manage a relatively significant workload for the clinicians, so they can put their resources into seeing patients, as well as providing administrative support."
The woman has managed to find another job but for lower pay, which had "dire" financial implications for her family, she said.
Doctors and nurses worried
A frustrated senior doctor - who works in another busy hospital department - said they had just lost their only "phenomenally hard-working superstar" booking clerk.
Thirty-five weeks' pregnant, she had to be hospitalised herself due to stress.
"We are all upset and worried about her and her baby. We are worried about the future of our service and our patients."
There was now "no-one" to book clinics, load, complete and waitlist referrals, answer patient queries, fill cancellation slots, or help patients navigate their appointment times, the doctor said.
Labour's health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall, who was contacted by this doctor and many other worried healthworkers, said the government was making a false distinction between "back-office" and front-line.
"It is not true that the health system has enough money. There are vital roles in our health system that are going unfilled."
A Christchurch nurse, who spoke to RNZ anonymously, said senior clinicians had pleaded with management to replace their booking clerk, who was also going on maternity leave shortly.
"[They're saying] 'We need this because it's clinical admin'. And it's just defiantly met with 'No, it isn't. It's an admin role'. So that's it."
The extra admin would probably fall to doctors, leaving them less time to spend with patients, she said.
"Not only that, if that doctor is booking their own patients, that doctor is costing the system $100 an hour, and doing it a lot less efficiently than the admin person who is costing $35 an hour and has the ability to do that with a lot more expertise."
The nurse said she was not opposed to "strategic" restructuring if needed, to get the health system out of financial strife.
"But that's not what's happening. This is a sledgehammer approach with basically no recognition of the way that the hospital machine runs.
"For every front-line staff member there are non-clinical, non-patient facing staff members who are working really hard to make sure that every person gets good quality care."
Northland Hospital emergency specialist Gary Payinda said it was "insulting" to hear the Prime Minister talk about the need to focus resources on the front line.
"I'm a front-line emergency doctor. Who do you think supports everything I do within the hospital?
"And those people - people like the ED PAs - keep our department running and keep it together.
"And those folks are doing things beyond their job description."
Health NZ 'prioritising ongoing funding for front-line services'
Te Whatu Ora chief people officer Andrew Slater said the "temporary pause" on recruitment for non-frontline roles was to allow it time to "realign budgets to continue prioritising ongoing funding for front-line services".
"Decisions around covering maternity leave - as opposed to vacancies - for non-frontline roles are made on a case-by-case basis.
"This does not relate to, or affect, front-line roles as we remain focussed on ensuring that our front-line kaimahi retain the ability to continue caring for patients."