NZRDA New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association
Medical Council New Zealand Elections 2018 14 Nov 2017
Background The right to elect doctors to the medical council has not always been assured. For RMOs, the issue of electing doctors to MCNZ started a long time ago, before any of our current membership were even in medical school. At that time, the members of MCNZ were all appointed, and none were RMOs. NZRDA started the campaign for elections in a bid to get some direct RMO input into MCNZ decisionmaking, on the basis that the council members at the time were so divorced from the reality of life for us. MCNZ of the time offered to appoint “someone under the age of 35”, which didn’t quite do the trick for us. However, the issue was overtaken by the introduction of the new Medical Practitioners Act (MPA), a precursor to our current Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (HPCAA). The MPA saw a new composition of council members incorporating more lay representation, keeping some appointed doctors but also enabling doctors to be elected by the profession. Hot on the heels of our successful lobbying, NZRDA worked hard to ensure at least one elected doctor was an RMO. The first was Dr Marc Adams, followed by Dr Kate O’Connor (who rose to the position of Deputy Chair), and most recently Dr Curtis Walker. Our relationship with Council improved markedly during this time, with an increased awareness at the table of matters as they affect us in real life. Nonetheless, we did again have to defend the right to elect members when the HPCAA came into being. The MPA was a trial for the subsequent HPCAA, which covered not just doctors but all health practitioners. When the HPCAA was being written, many of the other professions did not want elected members and the original Act did indeed exclude the right to elect. Further lobbying from the medical profession as a whole, however, preserved our right – one we should remember is important but by no means automatic. The responsibility of “self-government” should be appreciated. Taxation without representation is wrong. But to earn the right is another thing. MCNZ’s role is to protect the public, not be a voice for doctors, but they cannot do their role without us. Likewise, the role is one we as a profession cannot
Unit E, Building 3, 195 Main Highway, Ellerslie, Auckland 1051. PO Box 11369, Ellerslie, Auckland 1542 P 09 526 0280 F 09 579 6213 W www.nzrda.org.nz E
[email protected]
do without. In this day and age not all our members are angels, and the activities of a few can impact on the credibility of us all. Furthermore, there are those who phone us when they simply need us: heaven forbid we cast them aside never to practice again simply because, for instance, they are unwell. Informal sources reported to us that the majority of votes during council elections were cast by RMOs. Good on you having earned the right to vote, and we should exercise the right or risk losing it (again) for want of interest! In the last MCNZ elections the total number of (valid) votes received was 3,914 (out of 17,591 doctors who were eligible to vote).
Elections 2018 With MCNZ elections again on the horizon, we suggest we need to think a little harder about the process. Underpinning this suggestion is NZRDA’s positive experience of the benefits derived from having someone on MCNZ who knows what it is to be a resident doctor. But the role of MCNZ has changed since the days of Marc Adams and even Kate O’Connor. MCNZ today needs people who are not only well connected with the practicing profession and appreciative of the challenges we face today, but also politically aware and understanding not just of the role of governance but the benefits of effective leadership. We are pleased to announce that Dr Sam Holford will be standing for election to MCNZ in 2018. Sam is an O&G registrar at North Shore Hospital with interests in employee rights, women’s health and medical education. Sam is a member of the NZRDA National Executive (representative for the Auckland Region), the National RMO Engagement Group, and Costs of Training Subcommittee; he has also been a member of the NZRDA MECA bargaining team. Over the years Sam has demonstrated his passion and commitment to the profession, particularly on issues affecting RMOs. Dr Curtis Walker, immediate past president of NZRDA, will be standing for re-election to the MCNZ. Curtis, supported by NZRDA, was elected to Council in 2015 and is known to most of you for his role as President of NZRDA from 2009 to 2014. NZRDA continues to support Curtis’s ongoing role on Council. With voting opening early 2018 you will receive information about the elections closer to the time – including material on who is standing and what they stand for. We urge you to take some time to think about this important issue and who you believe will be best placed to fill this role.
Unit E, Building 3, 195 Main Highway, Ellerslie, Auckland 1051. PO Box 11369, Ellerslie, Auckland 1542 P 09 526 0280 F 09 579 6213 W www.nzrda.org.nz E
[email protected]
