Rural hospitals struggling with staffing

A third of positions at rural hospitals are vacant, a survey shows.

Waikato Clinical School head Professor Ross Lawrenson co-authored a survey of New Zealand's rural hospitals, revealing a large shortage of qualified staff and a heavy reliance on overseas staff and locums.

Twenty-nine rural hospitals, including Ashburton, Akaroa and Kaikoura hospitals, were included in the survey.

When managers were asked to rate the availability of qualified medical staff, all said there was a shortage and most said there was a critical shortage.

A quarter of positions were covered by locums and 10 per cent had no cover at all, Lawrenson said.

More than half of the doctors surveyed said they had worked additional shifts over the past month because of lack of staff.

"It's all very fragile and relying on a number of dedicated individuals," Lawrenson said.

Only two hospital managers said there was an adequate supply of locums, while 14 said there was a serious or critical shortage.

The survey revealed rural hospitals' heavy reliance on overseas-trained graduates.

About a third of doctors surveyed had qualified in New Zealand. Thirty per cent were from Britain, 11 per cent from South Africa and 9 per cent from North America.

"Most of them don't stay very long," Lawrenson said. "There are risks from having a large turnover of locums and international medical graduates in the quality of care that's being provided."

Lawrenson was in Christchurch yesterday for the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network conference.

He said a presentation by Buller Hospital revealed it had had 170 GPs since 2001. Keeping track of such a high number of staff was difficult and could affect patient safety, he said.

Asked what could be done to improve the rural hospital work force, most doctors surveyed said better training. Other issues were better pay and the reduction of on-call demands.

Lawrenson said a training programme introduced last year that allowed doctors to specialise as rural doctors was a positive move, as was a bonding scheme that meant students had to spend time in rural settings.

Health Minister Tony Ryall told the conference the Government was working hard to solve the "quite serious work-force crisis". However, a substantial funding increase was unlikely.

"This year's Budget has a limit of $1.1 billion of new spending across the entire public sector. Health will get a good share of that allocation, but any increase will not be as large as in previous years," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News