Hospital annual leave balances a sign of a system under pressure

“The big annual leave balances being notched up by public hospitals are yet another sign of a health system under pressure,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

He was commenting on figures released by Labour’s health spokesperson Annette King which show that district health board (DHB) annual leave balances grew to $465 million by the end of the 2014/15 financial year (http://campaign.labour.org.nz/millions_of_hours_owed_in_annual_leave_compromising_patient_care).

“The fact our hospitals have so much annual leave sitting unused on their books highlights the consequences of under-investment in the health workforce and public hospitals,” says Mr Powell.

“People need to take a good amount of time off work to rest and to spend time with their families and friends, and if they’re not getting opportunities to do that then that is of concern.

“Senior doctors and dentists often find it very difficult to take time off work due to the logistics of arranging cover for their absence or their reluctance to leave already over-stretched colleagues to shoulder additional work. These issues are exacerbated when there are just a few of you within a particular medical specialty, so the options for arranging cover are limited, or if your specialty is already short of the number of doctors it needs function effectively.

“Medical workforce shortages are a longstanding feature of the public health system, and these figures on annual leave simply highlight them.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media