An open letter of concern from the staff at Diagnostic Medlab

We, the staff of DML, are concerned with the statement that is circulating that
DML management has pressured staff not to apply for positions at Labtests. We
want to set the record straight.
DML management has at no time put us under any pressure related to applying
for positions at Labtests. We, at DML, are employed on a 'free will' basis. We are
not a commodity and cannot be 'traded'. We choose where we work and we have
chosen DML.
As medical laboratory professionals we are very passionate and proud of the
current level of community laboratory services we provide for the people of
Auckland. Over the past 70 years we have developed quality standards and
customer service which are world class.
The performance of our laboratory is acclaimed by the medical profession, our
peers and our patients.
We are proud of our ability to work as a team - to process over 10,000 patients'
samples each day. We strive for quality, innovation and continual improvement.
Our ultimate goal as health professionals has always been and continues to be to
provide the very best laboratory service to our referrers resulting in good patient
outcomes.
The Auckland DHBs' decision to reject the current comprehensive service in
favour of a substantially reduced service is a bad decision with high risk to the
patients in the Auckland region.
The DHBs' decision not only puts the service at risk but also puts the lives of
patients at risk. We believe the change in provider as proposed cannot be
managed to full implementation and we as medical laboratory professionals are
not prepared to gamble or compromise our standards and duty of care. We
understand our business and nothing we have seen to date of the Labtests
proposed model convinces us otherwise.
We hope this letter conveys not only our concerns but also the passion and
emotion that we, the staff of DML, feel over this bad decision. We trust that the
people of Auckland will continue to trust us and respect our decision to stand
firm.
This letter is written by the staff, for the staff at Diagnostic Medlab.