Temporary locum doctors are plugging the gaps, but cost more than full-time specialists, says a regional doctor. File photo. Photo: 123rf
A regional specialist doctor is pushing back on the government's claims there is no hiring freeze on frontline health roles, saying Health New Zealand has put a quota on the number of jobs each region can hire per week, including clinical staff.
Te Whatu Ora has ordered a hiring freeze for all non-frontline jobs, and has repeatedly denied it would affect any clinical roles.
But one specialist - who did not want to be named - told Checkpoint a hospital job he applied for had gone unfilled for months, while costly temporary locum doctors have plugged the gap.
The doctor heard there was a job opening at a provincial hospital when the previous specialist resigned, he contacted the hospital to say he would like to apply, but the job was not advertised for two months.
"The hospital that I've applied to only has two specialist roles in my specialty, the other specialist has been carrying that department on his own, as the hospital has not been permitted to recruit into the second position."
Health NZ puts quota on number of jobs can hire - doctor
In the meantime, locum doctors have been plugging the gap, he said.
"Locum doctors are usually paid between 3-5 times the amount of a permanent senior doctor. So on one hand permanent hiring is frozen, yet on the other hand, locums are permitted, even though they are vastly more expensive."
Despite Health New Zealand saying that there was no hiring freeze on frontline staff, he was told differently.
"I've learned from managers that Health New Zealand now has regional hiring committees that are only permitted to advertise a certain quota of jobs per week, and any clinical job - doctor, nurse, allied health worker professional - that doesn't make that quota, is not permitted to be recruited into. So effectively there is a clinical hiring freeze."
RNZ revealed yesterday that in the small Northland town of Dargaville, the hospital was going without a doctor overnight due to an acute shortage in the region.
Dargaville Medical centre GP Neil Hopkins said his practice had been short on doctors for a long time, which put extra pressure on the hospital.
"A lot of the patients have to wait quite a long time to get booked appointments. A month is not an uncommon time at all."
Dr Hopkins was also concerned about the ageing workforce at the clinic, with many of the doctors working there already passed retirement age.
"The medical service would be quite hard to provide if the doctors that could retire, did retire."
On the streets of Dargaville, locals were experiencing the effects of the doctor shortage.
"You've got to wait up to a month or six weeks for an appointment with the doctor you want to see," resident Jill said.
"The amount of people over here, that are going to have to go over to Whangarei, out of hours. It's busy over there and they've got their own problems, but to try and deal with another population from another town is a big deal," a Whangarei man visiting Dargaville said.
"It can be hard to see them. If you really need to see a doctor you'll always be able to see one. Sometimes you have to wait a couple of hours but you will see one," said Drew.
Attracting GPs to Dargaville was a longstanding issue, Dr Hopkins said.
Recruiting for the clinic had not been affected by the hiring freeze, as it was not directly run by Te Whatu Ora, he said.