At a meeting last week called by Waitaki District Health Services, the Waitaki District Council-controlled organisation that owns and operates the hospital, the issue of its reliance on locums and the long hours they worked at weekends was addressed by chief executive Ruth Kibble.
"Previously, in the weekends, doctors have worked for 63 hours on end. I have said that is not acceptable ... we are committed to changing that and employing our own doctors so that we can have good-quality clinical services," she said at the meeting.
She reiterated that stance in response to questions from the Otago Daily Times in an emailed statement on Tuesday, saying it was not in the best interests of doctors or patients for it to continue.
"This has been the standard practice at Oamaru Hospital for a long time for weekend cover. It has come about due to the need to bring external doctors [locums] in to cover the weekends.
"Some of the doctors who undertake this locum work actually prefer long weekends to make travel worthwhile. The doctor that works at the weekend traditionally would be able to sleep on site at night when it is quiet. Increasingly, due to the clinical demands, this is often not the case, hence the need to address the length of shift now."
She said doctors who worked the whole weekend shift were asked if fatigue was an issue and if so, a second on-call doctor was able to be brought in.
Locums are used at the hospital as required, mainly to cover weekends and staff leave.
The use of locums varied, but most weekends were covered by a locum doctor.
Dr Powell criticised the hours doctors at the hospital worked at weekends, a practice long since abandoned by resident doctors who she said worked a maximum 16-hour shift.
She was concerned doctors would become overtired, which could affect patients.
"How much sleep they’re getting I guess is the critical question here. We know that if you don’t get eight hours’ sleep, your performance starts to drop.
"There’s a very nice piece of research that’s been repeated quite a few times and comes out with exactly the same result every time.
"If you are awake for 18 hours, your performance is exactly the same as if you’re too drunk to drive. You should not be with patients.
"It doesn’t surprise me that Waitaki is now talking about this because, as an employer, they are responsible. They have got to stop it. They have got to stop this work practice."
The hospital employed four fulltime doctors and another two were scheduled to start, in January and March.
Another two doctors had been offered positions.
Mrs Kibble said once the eight fulltime positions had been filled, the hospital would be able to reduce workloads and not need to use locum doctors "unless there are exceptional circumstances".
