GP claims bullying over pay cut

Nelson Bays Primary Health Organisation has attempted to gag a Golden Bay doctor for telling Health Minister Tony Ryall and the media that he is "being bullied" into accepting a "40 to 50 percent" pay cut.

Dr Vic Eastman has received a letter from the PHO warning that unless he retracts and apologises for his letter to Mr Ryall, it may take legal action against him.

The issue concerns a move to integrate health services in the bay by combining a medical centre, rest home and community hospital on one site near Takaka. At present the four general practitioners at the Golden Bay Medical Centre practise independently, but under a proposal by the Integrated Management Group, the doctors, nurses and other health staff would be employed by the NBPHO.

The business case for the integration proposal has yet to be presented to the public but negotiations between the NBPHO, the current health providers, employees and their unions are already in full swing.

Dr Eastman, one of four doctors at the medical centre, is the only one who has not signed up to an employment deal with the NBPHO.

NBPHO chief executive officer Andrew Swanson-Dobbs has denied that Dr Eastman is being bullied and said that Dr Eastman had been offered about $475 per session – a rate which was "over and above the average sessional rate for New Zealand doctors".

Dr Eastman says his personal business situation prevents him from being an employee so he has made "several offers" regarding a contractual arrangement, all of which have been turned down by the NBPHO.

After The Nelson Mail asked Mr Swanson-Dobbs about Dr Eastman's case, Dr Eastman received an emailed letter from a lawyer representing the NBPHO later the same day demanding a retraction and apology by 4pm on Friday or it would consider defamation action.

Dr Eastman said today he was not clear what exactly was supposed to be retracted. He said he was "being bullied" by the NBPHO, and through him his patients because the NBPHO was making it "impossible for me to practise on my own".

"And I do feel, that in a free-speech social democracy it is certainly the right and possibly a duty of an individual to express his opinion regarding governance structures and actions," he said. "I feel I am not being unreasonable – I don't want more money than I am getting now, or more control."

Mr Ryall was unavailable for comment.

Dr Eastman, who has worked in general practice for 35 years, the past 18 at the Golden Bay Medical Centre, said the NBPHO was offering him what a locum doctor would receive.

"I work really, really hard and it's the most sophisticated medical care I have done in my life. My No1 goal is care for my patients. That is what I'm fighting for."

Dr Eastman is due to meet Mr Swanson-Dobbs to discuss the issue again this Wednesday.

If an agreement cannot be reached, Dr Eastman said he would be forced to leave the practice and go elsewhere. "It's absurd."

He saw no reason why doctors and other medical staff could not continue to work co-operatively, even if some were working for another body and carry out shared on-call coverage, for example.

Mr Swanson-Dobbs told The Nelson Mail that Dr Eastman had been offered the same employment conditions as the other three Golden Bay doctors, who had all accepted it. He denied that Dr Eastman was being bullied.

"What we offered was a very good rate and I'm disappointed he turned it down. I can't offer him more than any other GP is getting paid and I can't pay him more than any other GP is getting. He is a very good doctor and what he's asking is unreasonable and unaffordable," Mr Swanson-Dobbs said.

He said the transfer date for the medical centre takeover by the NBPHO was April 1, but there would be little change as far as the public was concerned.

"They'll get the same great doctors."

Dr Ian Russell, one of the Golden Bay doctors who has accepted the pay deal with the NBPHO, said he was accepting a pay cut but the drop was not as much as 40 per cent.

"We are taking a reduction in income but there are fewer expenses and less responsibility in terms of management and running the practice."

- © Fairfax NZ News