Junior doctors reach agreement on hours-

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 8

Junior doctors reach agreement on hours-

PA Wellington Junior hospital doctors have reached agreement with the Health Department over reducing the long hours they work. The president of the Resident Medical Officers’ Association, Dr Erihana Ryan, said that at a meeting on Thursday the association and the Health Department had set a maximum

limit on the number of houi-s that could be worked consecutively in any one day and in any week. Dr Ryan said that she could not say what the agreement was, but it was a big step forward.

The association and the Health Department were now considering ways to implement the agreement but Dr Ryan said that she would have to put any agreement to her membership before finally accepting it. “We are cautiously optimistic. The official side has made a significant move in our direction and as a result we are prepared to continue meeting with them,” said Dr Ryan. The improvement in the hours doctors would work

under the agreement was dramatic but “anything less than 80 hours on a consecutive stretch is better.”

Dr Ryan said that the association and the department still had to reach agreement on appropriate payment for overtime. She hoped that this would be done soon.

Junior doctors in hospitals throughout New Zea-

land had voted to take industrial action unless their working conditions were improved. The doctors particularly wanted to see an improvement in their rosters which have meant that many house surgeons and registrars have worked 86 hours a week on average? They are also concerned that they are not adequately paid for overtime.