No progress on #Qld#doctors#contract ‘crisis’ as politicians squabble
The opposition says the state hospital system is in “crisis” over the government’s plan to put doctors on individual contracts.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has responded by saying he was merely “cleaning up the mess” left by the Right to Private Practice scheme established by the Labor government in 2006.
Doctors have continued to publicly express their displeasure with the idea. But no one seems any closer to an answer.
Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said she had met with – and had been contacted by – “numerous specialists” who were “very, very concerned about what could happen if there is a mass exodus” from the health system.
‘These specialists are needed in our public hospital system,” she said. “They are needed to look after families across the state.
“This is now a crisis – there are meetings happening across the state, the medical specialists are very concerned about the direction this government is taking with Newman’s work choices for doctors.
“The health minister has shrugged this off and said everything is going to be OK. It’s not. It is a crisis and the doctors will walk out.”
Medical specialists have until the end of April to sign the work contracts offered by their employers. Those who don’t face losing up to one-third of their pay and lose the protection of award coverage. One year on, those who still refuse to sign could lose their jobs.
The Together Union, together with the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation of Queensland, have launched a letter writing campaign and doctors have continued to meet to work out new plans of attack. But Mr Springborg maintains the government is working to make the health system fairer. It made its move after an Auditor-General report on the Right To Private Practice found the scheme had cost the public health system $800 million over the past decade.
“The current system is not fair to Queenslanders and #Queensland#Health patients,” he said.
“It is surprising that the Labor Party would continue to align itself with such a discredited and wasteful system.
“The Opposition Leader is demanding that the government thumb its nose at the Auditor-General and continue to allocate huge sums of public money without accounting for its expenditure.
“The perpetual contracts negotiated by the government with doctor’s representatives in Queensland are competitive. They are designed to protect doctor’s income and reward them for the valuable work they do.”
But the government’s critics – the unions and the opposition chief among them – claim the government has “overplayed” Auditor-General Andrew Greaves’s report.
Of the state’s 2000 plus senior medical officers, Mr Greaves investigated 88 and found just eight were treating private patients in public facilities and retaining all the income, instead of reimbursing the state system, as set down in their contracts.
Mr Springborg maintains the government is attempting to restore “accountability” and ensure that public hospitals remain committed to treating public patients fairly.
But specialists and their supporters have vowed to continue to fight.
The contracts, for those who chose to sign, will come into effect on July 7
Source: The Age