National Manual

The National Manual contains the agreed national processes, procedures and resources for the administrative support of Resident Medical Officers (RMOs) across all districts under Te Whatu Ora. The purpose of the manual is to provide an agreed nationally consistent approach between the parties to RMO administration and application of the Specialty Trainees of New Zealand and Te Whatu Ora Collective Agreement.

The STONZ and Te Whatu Ora working group most recently updated the National Manual to reflect the changes to the STONZ Collective Agreement from December 2021.

The clause
Clarification on sub clauses (where required) due to technical inconsistencies such as clause numbering and / or errors in wording
An overview and application
The operational context by way of scenario’s and frequently asked questions
A comparison to the corresponding clause in the NZRDA Collective Agreement

Background
As part of the STONZ Collective Agreement settlement a STONZ National Engagement Forum (SNEF) was formed which consists of both Te Whatu Ora and STONZ representatives. At the initial meeting of the SNEF in April 2019 a national work plan was agreed. One of the items on the national work plan, endorsed by the Chief Executives, was a commitment to develop jointly a national process manual. A working group was formed as part of the project to develop the manual which included RMO Unit representatives, STONZ representatives and ER Advocates.

The following high-level principles underpinned the development process:

Maximise standardisation
Work with consistent interpretation of the STONZ collective agreement
Build on existing RMO processes and align with HR processes, where possible
Provide scenarios and frequently asked questions that depict operational application
Focus on relationships between RMOs, RMO Support, Service, Payroll, RMO Support and ER/HR

Note: There are still some areas where national consistency was not able to be achieved. This is because District Policy will still apply in some scenarios. Where this is the case, it is clearly highlighted in the Manual. With the recent change to Te Whatu Ora, we now have an easier pathway to push for overall national consistency.

The Manual
You can find a link to the National Manual HERE
Note: Internet Explorer 11 users may not be able to access the manual correctly. We recommend using Chrome.