There’s a raft of reasons behind senior doctors and dentists walking off the job today. 

Members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists will strike for two hours from midday after rejecting the latest offer from Te Whatu Ora. 

Former Executive Director Ian Powell told Mike Hosking that there are staffing shortages, stress, and burnout, along with a pay freeze and seeing the value of their incomes decline. 

He says they feel like they've been taken for granted for too long, working in insufferable conditions with no pipeline ahead to get out of it, and something has snapped. 

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• Hundreds of procedures postponed due to medical strike