THE #Queensland boss of the #AMA Australian Medical Association #AMA has been sidelined by his own organisation after telling doctors he supported the #Newman Government’s public hospital contracts.
AMA federal president Steve Hambleton has taken over from Queensland president Christian Rowan as the public face of a campaign to force the Government back to the negotiating table.
Dr Rowan triggered doctor unrest by saying he was willing to sign one of the contracts, which he said had the “capacity to drive productivity, efficiency, value for money and enhance transparency of outcomes for the public hospital system’’.
The AMAQ is understood to have silenced Dr Rowan over talking publicly about the issue, referring all questions to his president-elect Shaun Rudd, or to Dr Hambleton, a Brisbane GP.
Dr Rowan, who has previously stood for LNP preselection, said last night he stood behind his previous comments.
He said he was in negotiations with the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service CEO about his own individual contract.
A meeting attended by hundreds of public hospital specialists at Brisbane’s Pineapple Hotel this week unanimously opposed the proposed contracts, bar one dissenting vote.
Doctors say key sticking points included inadequate dispute resolution procedures, the potential for doctors to be dismissed without cause and forced transfers.
Dr Rudd told the meeting by phone the AMAQ was 100 per cent behind the doctors’ campaign, describing the contracts as “unjust and unfair’’.
Premier Campbell Newman and Health Minister Lawrence Springborg have pounced on differences within the ranks of the AMA to refuse to reopen talks.
In a stinging letter to Dr Hambleton this week, they wrote: “The State Government has no intention of reopening negotiations on contracts for medical officers which have been concluded with your state arm, the AMAQ, with significant concessions.
“Notwithstanding that we will not be reopening negotiations on doctor contracts, the AMA, like its state arm the AMAQ, is always able to meet with the Minister for Health on health issues.’’
Dr Hambleton brushed aside the controversy as “a distraction’’.
He said meetings of doctors at hospitals throughout the state had strongly criticised the contracts.
Source: News.com.au