Further strike action by junior doctors looks unavoidable after negotiations with district health boards (DHBs) broke down yesterday.
Talks between the DHBs and the junior doctors' union, the Resident Doctors Association (RDA), resumed at 10.30am yesterday, following negotiations on Monday afternoon.
But they had broken down by noon yesterday, meaning industrial action planned for May 7 and 8 will go ahead unless the parties can find a way back to the negotiating table.
The doctors walked off the job for two days last week in support of a pay rise of 10% a year for the next three years.
RDA general secretary Dr Deborah Powell said last night the DHBs had made an offer no better than their previous proposal of about 4%.
She said the talks broke down, with the boards indicating they needed another ‘‘six to eight weeks to do something, but they won't tell us what it is''.
DHB spokesman David Meates said boards were focusing on preparing for further strike action, but were prepared to keep talking to the union until then.
The union had rejected two offers aimed at averting the strike and put its claim for 40% over three years back on the table, he said.
One offer from the DHBs included an independent commission sponsored by the Ministry of Health to look at workforce issues.
‘‘This is the kind of deal we offered senior doctors. This group wants more.''
Next week's planned strike has already cost a Dunedin cancer patient an extra $380 to re-book air fares to Auckland where he is to undergo surgery.
University of Otago botany lecturer Dr David Orlovich and his partner had to change previous bookings when his surgery clashed with the proposed strike on May 7 and 8. It cost $190 to upgrade each fare to allow for greater flexibility.
His parents and two siblings in Australia have also had to rebook flights for the new time.
This week, he got confirmation that his major surgery to remove an abdominal tumour should go ahead on May 22.
Dr Orlovich is keen to get the surgery done, but at the moment feels he is ‘‘stuck in a situation where I have got no control''.
He has been keen not to be seen to be blaming junior doctors.
‘‘It seems to me someone needs to sit down and work out a realistic solution. If that means giving them more money, that's a good thing.''
