Tauranga Hospital avoids critical staff shortage over long weekend

It was a tense day at Tauranga Hospital as medical registrars faced the prospect of more than a quarter of their staff being away over the Matariki long weekend.

A doctor issued a plea on social media calling for anyone familiar with the hospital to come in and help as a registrar over Saturday and Sunday.

To sweeten the deal, hours and money were up for negotiation.

"A call for help from the Tauranga Hospital," the doctor wrote. "We are extremely short-staffed on the medical registrar front this weekend.

"If anybody has worked with us before, is now out working elsewhere and wants to make some extra cash on the weekend, please reach out."

"We can discuss money and number of hours, it's all negotiable."

The Resident Doctors' Association told RNZ that cover has now been found, but the social media post raises questions about how the hospital got to that point in the first place.

National secretary Dr Deborah Powell said Tauranga Hospital was down more that a quarter of their medical registrars over the long weekend.

"We're about 10 down out of a complement of 35," Powell said.

Powell said there had been a real level of fear among staff. "Medical is where all of the acutely unwell heart attacks, the strokes, the pneumonias, you name it, rolls in.

"These people are seriously unwell, and the medical registrars, who are the vacant shifts, they are the guys who receive these people in an acute state and get them sorted out.

"Why have we got to Thursday of a long weekend, and you don't have cover for the weekend? It's very much last minute," she said.

"I am aware they introduced a new roster system and it's not working well, but the guys tell me that this is known about and they just haven't acted promptly enough to get it sorted."

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale said a staff shortage going into the long weekend was a concern.

"It's important to realise that just because it's a long weekend, that doesn't stop the sickness and injuries happening, it happens irrespective of whether its a holiday or not," Drysdale said.

"It is a concern that there is a shortage but I'm sure the staff available will prioritise and do the best they can under trying circumstances."

RNZ asked Health NZ for an interview on the issue, and put direct questions to the agency on what caused the shortage and how much it was going to cost to fix.

They sent back a statement from its Bay of Plenty group director of operations, Sarah Fenwick.

"Tauranga Hospital has experienced some roster pressures for the coming weekend but these have been addressed," Fenwick said.

It was unclear just how the shortage was fixed.

"This is a challenging time of year for medical registrar recruitment, with some staff leaving to commence training opportunities overseas and winter illness also placing pressure on staffing levels."

Fenwick said they had successfully recruited for their current vacancies, with new registrars due to start in August, September and October.