Fears high wages for locums will discourage full-time doctors

There are concerns high wages paid to casual medical staff to plug gaps in the health system are discouraging doctors from taking full time positions. Te Whatu Ora said its forecast full year spend on contractors and consultants is 477 million dollars or about 4 percent of its annual internal personnel budget. But it can't say exactly how much of that is for locums or doctors who plug roster gaps. Dr Lisa Ten Eyck spoke to Lisa Owen.