Recently released international data have confirmed what senior doctors have called New Zealand's "appalling" shortage of hospital specialists. Mr Ian Powell, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says the Organisation of Economic Development’s (OECD) Health at a Glance 2009 statistics highlight what the sector is already experiencing. “New Zealand has had a low ratio of specialists per head of population for some time but we have now reached rock bottom. While the OECD average is 1.8 specialists per 1000 people, New Zealand has a pathetic 0.8." Mr Powell says patient services are being held together by an “overworked and overstretched hospital specialist workforce” which depends on an unsustainable exploitation of senior doctors. "Without remedy the system will eventually collapse,” he says. General practice and cancer treatment are among the specialties facing shortages. “Overwork, lack of resources to do the job, and poor remuneration by international standards seriously contributes to both the loss of cancer specialists and the serious difficulties in replacing them,” says Mr Powell. Dr Harry Pert of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners says the College shares the concerns. "It is vitally important that New Zealand trains and retains more doctors with specialist training, including doctors specialising in general practice." Funding models need to be addressed, says Dr Pert "because doctors undertaking specialist training in general practice still fund a considerable proportion of their own training, unlike their colleagues in other medical specialties.”