Patient safety is being compromised due to rosters where doctors work up to 12 days without a break, a former Wairau Hospital doctor says. The New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association (NZDRA) “Safer Hours” campaign is lobbying for DHBs reduce the rostering patterns in hospitals. Nelson Marlborough Health employs 80 resident doctors and the association identified 24 doctors working on three “affected rosters”. One of those rosters, at Wairau Hospital, required doctors to work up to seven consecutive night shifts and 12 days in a row. The health board had recently recruited new doctors at Wairau Hospital to address the issue. Nelson Marlborough Health acting general manager of clinical services Jane Kinsey said the changes meant by the end of November, once all new doctors were in place, the roster would have changed to the one that the NZRDA was asking for. Resident medical officer and NZRDA delegate Dr Liadhan Coakley worked at Wairau Hospital for 15 months, where she said the roster could include four day shifts followed by seven night shifts with two days off. She described the roster as “exhausting”.
