Doctors at Gisborne Hospital are preparing to strike over dangerous staffing shortages, warning it is "on the brink of collapse".
The hospital has the worst vacancy rate in New Zealand. Senior doctors say as of March 2025, 44% of senior roles vacant, up from 37% last July. The figure was disputed by Te Whatu Ora, but was unable to provide 1News with another figure.
Thirty Tairāwhiti doctors have written twice to government officials calling for them to intervene.
Among them was physician Dr Alex Raines, who was based in North Carolina before moving to Gisborne three years ago after deciding the privatised US system was demoralising and "profiting from disease".
"At my department in medicine, we are still at risk of having to shut down at least one of our teams for multiple weeks over this winter when we don't have staffing coverage," he told 1News.
Another doctor, Sean Pocock, said the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department was reliant on locums to stay open.
"We've come close in the last few months to not having doctors to staff our service. That would mean that any woman coming to the hospital who needed an obstetrician gynaecologist acutely would not be able to have one," he said.
"If they were having a baby, they would need to be transferred out of town to get that care. If they had an emergency that required emergency gynaecologic surgery, they would really not be able to provide that in Gisborne."
Paediatrician Dr Carol Chan said she worked more than 75 hours over one weekend, from 8am on Friday to 8am on Monday.
"Continuous work for 77.5 hours. I was on call for 77.2 of it and on-site for about 43. That's one weekend," she said.
"It wouldn't take much of staffing loss to push any department over the edge and losing even more colleagues is going to be disastrous for a service."
'Postcode lottery'
Raines said accessing specialist cardiology in the Gisborne region "can be really challenging".
“Unfortunately, we’ve recently seen patients die on waiting lists for procedures that they need. We've had people who come in for care and are delayed getting transferred and have bad outcomes as well," Raines said.
"Whether it's harm or even a death, I wonder, 'if they lived in Auckland or Wellington, would they have survived that?' or 'would that have happened?' You're not supposed to have that postcode lottery here, but we do."
A short-term solution
Te Whatu Ora chief medical officer Dr Richard Sullivan said locums were being used to ensure the hospital's staffing levels were safe.
"There's always concerns over harm that can occur on waitlists, so that's a real focus of ours. Again, that's why we are putting in these short-term solutions. But any particular events, we investigate those to make sure we are keeping our patient’s as safe as possible," he said.
He acknowledged the stress senior doctors at the hospital were under.
"I see that and I hear that, but that’s why we have brought in these short-term locums to support them so we can keep the hospital safe, we can keep the surgical list going."
Sullivan added that it was "challenging" to recruit staff not only for regional hospitals, but the system as a whole".
"We're looking to bring doctors in but, when you do recruit somebody from overseas, it does take many months before they do turn up on site," he explained.
But Pocock said staff found the situation "frustrating", adding that the high cost for the locums could go towards hiring permanent staff.
In a statement to 1News on Thursday, Sullivan said Te Whatu Ora recognised "the concerns raised in regard to workforce shortages and we are committed to growing our permanent medical workforce".
"Since August 2024 we have hired 3.5 FTE permanent doctors and 6 FTE fixed term. In addition to this we have hired a permanent Chief Medical Officer who will start later this year and appointed 11 FTE permanent doctors who will start in the coming months.
"In the Health NZ offer to senior doctors, we offered an allowance of $25,000 for hard to recruit districts, including Tairāwhiti, to assist in attracting and retaining senior doctors."
Call for change
Gisborne Hospital staff would be striking on Wedensday as they called for a clear and sustainable staffing plan to attract and retain good recruits.
Senior doctors who were members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists would strike on May 28 from 12.01am to 11.59pm.
Gisborne Hospital and the emergency department would remain open during the strike action and other clinical staff, including doctors, would still be available to ensure the continued availability of health services for those who needed them.
While some surgeries would continue , sine clinics would close to maintain patient safety.
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