'We're running out of specialist blood cancer scientists in NZ'

A leading blood cancer specialist with more than 30 years of experience says he is quitting New Zealand for Australia because of unsafe staffing levels.

Terry Taylor has resigned from his specialist cancer diagnostic role at Dunedin Hospital's pathology lab.

The lab is privately owned by Awanui Labs, but contracted by Health New Zealand to provide services.

Taylor told Checkpoint that his laboratory and other hospital laboratories did not have the appropriate level of specialist skillset involved with blood and biopsy samples.

He was aware of about six blood cancer specialists leaving their roles in the past six months, out of a total pool of about 10.

He said while some had retired, more were becoming disillusioned.

"The fact of the matter is, we're running out of specialist blood cancer scientists in New Zealand... realistically, we're just hanging in there."

He said the country had no clear plan for recruiting and keeping scientists.

"Our staffing levels are significantly lower than they should be to safely do this work in our laboratories.

"We have to train from within and quite simply, at the moment, there's no plan, there's no commitment."

He said that while Australia paid specialist scientists more, that was not the main reason for his jumping ship.

"Ultimately, it's really to do with the conditions and the way things are at the moment and it's just not looking like it's going to get any better soon. That what has driven me to leave [the country]. If I really wanted to go, I probably could have gone 10 years ago."

In a statement, Awanui said it was confident in the quality, safety and resilience of the services it provided across the lower South Island, including at its Dunedin laboratory.

The company said it handled more than seven million diagnostic results a year and operated under strict national accreditation and quality assurance standards.

It said there were no staff shortages impacting their ability to deliver services.

Awanui said it also worked alongside a Health New Zealand oversight group to ensure the delivery of hospital and community diagnostic pathology services met the needs of the region.