A sexual health medicine specialist says he will be the only one working in Bay of Plenty and Lakes hospitals from next week, when his colleague retires.

Dr Massimo Giola claimed “delays in advertising” meant his colleague had not been replaced by Health NZ, resulting in cuts to services.

Giola was striking outside Tauranga Hospital today as part of a 24-hour action by senior doctors who are members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

Mediation between Health NZ and the union failed to avert the May Day strike.

‘Without us, the hospital simply cannot run’

Giola told the Bay of Plenty Times his “only” colleague would retire next Friday, leaving him as the sole sexual health medicine specialist for the Bay of Plenty and Lakes.

As a result, specialist sexual health clinic sessions would be reduced from seven a week to four.

Giola said he normally worked three days a week in Tauranga and one day in Rotorua.

He and his colleague had been working in the service “forever” as it had not received approval for more full-time equivalent staff.

Giola, from Italy, has worked in New Zealand for 16 years.

He said his colleague told him that, in the early 2000s, the service would see “a few cases of syphilis a year”.

“Now we see half a dozen syphilis cases every week.

“The amount of work, the complexity of our work, has been exponentially growing. The population has been growing, and yet we have been told essentially that we need to suck it up and work more.”

Giola said he was “happy” living in New Zealand but, if he had more than five years of full-time work left in his career, “I would probably move to Australia”.

His Australian colleagues “easily” earned double, he said.

Health NZ Bay of Plenty and Lakes sexual health medicine specialist Massimo Giola striking outside Tauranga Hospital. Photo / Megan Wilson

“In a highly competitive market such as for medical specialists, it will be extremely difficult for New Zealand to keep a well-staffed public health service without paying senior doctors what we are really worth.”

Giola said Health NZ’s offer was a 1.5% pay rise, which was “essentially a pay cut” once adjusted for inflation.

“Without us, the hospital simply cannot run … The hospital is open today only because we have agreed to life-preserving services.”

‘Dire dental needs’

Dentist Rudi Johnson said she was striking for maranga - standing up for the workforce and health system.

Workforce shortages and being unable to “fill those gaps” were the main issues.

Te Whatu Ora Hauora a Toi Bay of Plenty dentist Rudi Johnson and psychiatrist Brendon Hock striking outside Tauranga Hospital. Photo / Megan Wilson

She said she saw patients with “dire dental needs”.

“Funding in the community, that’s where it should lie as well. There’s nothing there, so it sort of sits with the hospitals in the end.”

Rotorua Hospital anaesthetist and ASMS executive member Andrew Robinson said there was “lots” of public support at the Rotorua strike, with car horns honking “pretty much constantly“.

“A lot of solidarity and good cheer but … kind of depressed about what’s been happening in the healthcare sector.”

Senior doctors who are members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) striking in Rotorua. Photo / Supplied

‘We value our doctors’

Health NZ referred to its Wednesday press release when asked to respond to Giola’s and Johnson’s comments.

Chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan said Health NZ was concerned about the impact of the strike on patients waiting for planned care and specialist appointments.

An estimated 4300 planned procedures would be postponed due to the strike action, and some clinics would be closed.

Senior doctors in Rotorua joining the strike call from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).

Sullivan said Health NZ was committed to reaching a settlement with the ASMS and it had applied to the Employment Relations Authority for facilitation, which would give an independent party the opportunity to hear from both sides and make a recommendation.

“We are disappointed at the union’s refusal to take our offer to members as we believe this was a fair and reasonable offer given the budget constraints we have and the current economic environment.”

The ASMS previously told RNZ there was no point taking the offer to its members, as for most of them it was “worse than what was originally on the table”.

Most specialists were already near or at the top of the specialist scale and, for them, the offer worked out at “less than 0.77% on average”, ASMS executive director Sarah Dalton told RNZ.

Sullivan said that, under the offer rejected by the union, over the two years of the agreement, senior doctors would have received increases to base pay ranging from $8093 to $29,911, depending on experience. Additionally, those on step 4 to step 15 would have received an $8000 lump sum.

“We value our doctors and want to do the best we can for them, but the reality is that Health NZ has limited budget available for salary settlements within its tight financial constraints.”

Appointments deferred because of the strike would be rescheduled for the next available opportunity, he said.