Over 3700 Overtime Hours Pulled By Anaesthetic Technicians, as Scaled Back Surgery Numbers Continued
With a list of 30 vacancies by 29 August, the Anaesthetic Technician shortage has impacted the number of cardiothoracic operations done through the city hospital.
Carol Brian picketing outside the Out-patients Building. In May, Carol told The Wigram she was seeking heart surgery for her husband, after suffering a stroke in February 2022.
Anaesthetic technicians pulled 3,794 hours of overtime between March and 18 August this year, says Te Whatu Ora.
Source: Te Whatu Ora, 2 October 2023
The May high of 859 came after the resignation of 6 technicians the prior month. In June, when another technician resigned, over-time reached a peak of 912 hours.
The spike came despite Te Whatu Ora hiring 6 technicians in March. A further 6 and an anaesthetist assistant/registered nurse were hired in the subsequent months.
“We haven’t been at full staffing levels for the last two years and there have been significant workforce and culture issues that have affected our AT team.”
“We took this very seriously and addressing these issues has been a priority for us. However we are now being by the AT workforce challenges nationally and globally.”
Julia Goode, Senior Communications Advisor, Te Whatu Ora
As at 29 August, full-time technicians only made up about 57% of the local workforce. Part-time and casual workers accounted for the rest.
In March this year, Stuff reported 29 vacancies. More than 5 months on, the hospital still had 30 vacancies (29 August). Te Whatu Ora confirmed the public hospital had one advertisement for 11 vacancies at that time.
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