Doctors in the Far North are concerned about the potential death of patients due to critical workforce shortages in hospitals. A senior clinical manager warns of high-risk areas, including Dargaville Hospital, where telehealth services have replaced on-site doctors overnight. The chronic shortage has become acute, exacerbated by a lack of funding for recruitment and recent cuts in locum pay.
Dargaville Hospital in New Zealand is facing a crisis as one doctor retires, leaving the hospital unable to provide safe 24/7 care. The hospital now relies on telehealth and nurses overnight, with critically ill patients transferred to Whangārei byDargaville Hospital.
The problems include a shortage of 10 senior doctors, resident doctor cover being ad hoc due to a lack of coordinated recruitment and funding, and telehealth doctors being hampered by the heavy reliance on paper-based medication charting and the lack of electronic medical protocols in Northland.
The lack of primary care after-hours service has a direct impact on emergency services, with inter-hospital transport being a high risk. The availability of St John’s Ambulance and alternative services is also limited, with staff often providing 24-72-hour continuous call-back service. Emergency doctor Gary Payinda said that people will be dying due to long waits in overcrowded, understaffed emergency departments.
The private telehealth company Emergency Consult has had the contract for hospitals in Kaitaia, Kawakawa in the Bay of Islands, Dargaville, and Rawene since 2019. In the three months to the end of June, Emergency Consult treated 1270 patients at those four rural hospitals. However, the lack of electronic systems at rural hospitals creates confusion and is a major source of distress to staff.
The Ambulance Association’s head, Mark Quin, said the collapse of primary care in Northland was stretching crews beyond capacity, with staff burned out, morale low, and the organisation currently in a pay dispute with St John.
Dr. Payinda said it was “insulting” to frontline health workers to hear the new Health Commissioner Lester Levy describe the health system as “bloated,” and politicians deny there was any underfunding.
Te Whatu Ora Northern region hospital & specialist services director Mark Shepherd told Morning Report that all adverse events were investigated and that losing “a small number of doctors” compromised the roster. Te Whatu Ora is continuing to recruit rural doctors and is looking to hire other skilled staff, such as senior nurses and paramedics, to fill some gaps.
Minister of Health Dr Shane Reti said it was not a desirable position, but there was funding for 10 positions across Northland. Dargaville’s hospital remains viable but may rely on alternative service mechanisms until doctor positions can be filled.
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