10 Dec 2010

Junior doctors agree to negotiate on wider issues

9:49 pm on 10 December 2010

Junior hospital doctors have accepted a pay increase of 2% offered by district health boards and agreed to negotiate on wider issues.

Their union, the Resident Doctors' Association, accused the DHBs in September of trying to claw back terms and conditions by changing the collective employment contract.

District health boards say the interim deal with offers a chance for in-depth talks on key workforce issues, including work-life balance, flexibility, rosters and hours worked.

These will be bargained over in workshops to be held in January and perhaps longer.

A spokesperson for the DHBs, Karen Roach, says the interim deal with the union amounts to progress in long-running talks over pay and conditions.

The doctors earlier said better work hours were more important than pay increases.