WALK-OUT FEAR#qldpol #keepourdoctors: Services may be lost at #Gympie Hospital if doctors walk in protest of new work contracts.
CONCERNS have been raised that upset doctors may quit Gympie hospital due to fears they will lose pay and conditions.
The State Government is trying to put doctors on new contracts and make them more accountable.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has even accused some doctors of rorting the system and reported them to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Sources inside Gympie Hospital, who wish not to be named, say they are concerned doctors will leave the town if new contracts are enforced.
The news comes on top of a specialist from Nambour Hospital speaking out in the Sunshine Coast Daily.
Nambour doctors oversee many services at Gympie.
The doctor, who also wished not to be named, said it would be an “unmitigated disaster” if as few as 10% of the doctors working in Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service followed through with the measures.
He said many felt they had no choice with the State Government’s “ambush” before Christmas, introducing new contracts which take away the working conditions they have fought for “over the past 15 years”.
The new contracts will provide no protection from arbitrary dismissal, no dispute resolution process and doctors could be forced to move across the state without consultation.
“I have never been in a situation where so many hardworking placid doctors have been so outraged at how a government is trying to bully us into a contract that is totally unfair,” he said.
“A large number of people on the Sunshine Coast are thinking of leaving.”
He said if this happened “services will be stretched to the brink of collapse”.
“Every meeting I have been to (with Sunshine Coast doctors) there has been a unanimous feeling of outrage,” he said.
Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service chief executive Kevin Hegarty said the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service’s senior medical officers and visiting medical officers had not yet received their contracts.
“Discussions are currently occurring with our SMO and VMO staff, to inform the key performance indicators prior to issue of the contracts,” Mr Hegarty said.
“There is an extensive communication process with senior medical staff and visiting medical officers within the SCHHS.”
He said there are 263 senior medical officers and visiting medical officers in the SCHHS that will be offered contracts of employment.
“The SCHHS has also appointed an experienced doctor as the local lead for the implementation of contracts.”
The Gympie Times contacted member for Gympie David Gibson for comment yesterday but his response wasn’t received by deadline.
Source: The Gympie Times