Chief Executive’s Office
Level 12, Building 01
Auckland City Hospital
P O Box 92189
Auckland 1142
(09) 630-9943 ext 22342
Fax: 375 3341
[Auckland District Health Board request email]
26 April 2022
Jared Mitchell
By email: [FYI request #18716 email]
Dear Jared
Re:
Official Information Act request – RMO and SMO Data - ADHB Ref: 20220301-1167
I refer to your Official Information Act request dated 28 February 2022 requesting the fol owing
information:
1. How many RMO (junior doctor) shifts were left uncovered/vacant for each month of last year?
2. How many SMO (senior doctor) shifts were left uncovered/vacant for each month of last year?
3. What steps/processes are taken to fil these vacancies?
4. What procedures are in place during these uncovered/vacant shifts to ensure the safety of
both patients and staff?
Response
1. How many RMO (junior doctor) shifts were left uncovered/vacant for each month of last year?
2. How many SMO (senior doctor) shifts were left uncovered/vacant for each month of last year?
We are providing a combined response to questions 1 and 2.
There is no electronic rostering system for RMOs or SMOs that holds the information requested. Providing
information on shifts left uncovered/vacant over the last year would require the manual col ation of
information by Auckland District Health Board and shared service agency staff across a number of services.
This is not information that is central y col ected or coordinated as each service would manage these
instances differently in relation to the type of shift the RMO or SMO was scheduled to be working.
Manually collating the information requested would take staff away from their core duties and prejudice
our ability to provide essential services at a time when our clinicians, managers and staff are concentrating
on efforts to manage the current COVID-19 outbreak.
The information you are seeking would be difficult to col ect in a business-as-usual environment and, in
some instances, may not be available with any data provided likely to be incomplete and / or not accurate.
We have considered whether charging or extending the timeframe for responding to these aspects of your
request would assist us in managing this work and have concluded it would not. We have, therefore,
determined to refuse these aspects of your request under Section 18(f) of the Official Information Act due
to substantial col ation and research.
3. What steps/processes are taken to fil these vacancies?
The steps to fil RMO vacant duties are usually as fol ows:
Welcome Haere Mai | Respect Manaaki | Together Tūhono | Aim High Angamua
adhb.govt.nz
• where cover is not available for vacant duties in ordinary hours Monday to Friday 0800-1600 (8am-
4pm) and we cannot get an additional RMO or SMO to provide cover, a vacant duty may be cross-
covered by other RMOs working the day shift. Cross-cover is where a doctor provides care or
oversight to additional patients alongside those al ocated that day.
• where the vacant shift involves after-hours which can be the long-day portion between 16:00 –
22:00 (4pm-11pm), nights and weekends then additional duties (equivalent of overtime) are
offered to RMOs employed within the DHB who have worked in the service previously, noting that
additional duties are voluntary
• where the DHB is unable to source cover via additional duties from staff already employed at the
DHB then locum cover is sourced. For RMOs the majority of locums (employed on a casual basis)
are permanent employees working at one of the other two DHBs in the Auckland metro region.
Given this, their availability is limited to after-hours and weekends in most instances
• in certain circumstances escalated additional duty rates may be offered to assist with fil ing vacant
shifts where this has been approved by the DHB. However, this is general y limited to peak periods
such as winter or where there are permanent staff shortages in particular services during peak
demand.
For SMOs:
• SMO shift vacancies do not always require cover as it depends on work that is scheduled. SMOs
may be scheduled to work a non-clinical day, run a clinic, complete ward round, a theatre list or
complete training. Each of these vacancies would be managed differently and may or may not
require cover.
4. What procedures are in place during these uncovered/vacant shifts to ensure the safety of both
patients and staff?
Where RMO cover is unable to be sourced for vacant shift and where the vacant shift is known prior to the
shift start, i.e. the service has had time to plan and prepare, the service contingency plan wil be
implemented. There is no generic contingency plan, this wil be different for services dependent on patient
numbers and the acuity of patients on the particular day but it may include (but is not limited to):
• redeployment of staff or services
• a step down process for cover such as an SMO covering the Registrar and/or a Registrar covering a
House Officer vacancy
• a reduction in planned care such as deferring clinics or elective surgeries.
You are entitled to seek a review of the response by the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the Official
Information Act. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Please note that this response, or an edited version of this response, may be published on the Auckland
DHB website.
Yours sincerely,
Ailsa Claire, OBE
Chief Executive
Document Outline
