Assistant Minister splits ranks on doctors contracts. #keepourdoctors #qldpol
A second government MP has strayed from the official party line, criticising the government over its handling of the doctor contracts issue.
Just days after Ipswich West MP Sean Choat made his public declaration not to vote for asset sales, assistant health minister Chris Davis, wrote a letter addressed to his fellow MPs, urging the government to return to the negotiation table with the state’s senior doctors.
Unlike Mr Choat, Dr Davis attempted to keep his concerns within the party room walls.
But in a letter obtained by Seven News, the former medical specialist with The Prince Charles Hospital and past president of the Australian Medical Association Queensland wrote that ‘contracts that could harm patients and be detrimental to the broader community make my position in this government untenable”.
It is understood that Dr Davis did not distribute the letter, but the issue was debated as a matter of course during Monday afternoon’s party room meeting.
In his missive, Dr Davis said to his knowledge, “there is no evidence that this strategy of command and control improves performance in complex professional settings”.
“To the contrary, Queensland’s experience with this in healthcare has contributed to patient deaths, such as in Bundaberg, and major financial loss, as with the payroll debacle,” Dr Davis wrote in the
letter.
“In comparison, organisations such as Victoria Health and British NHS recognise that the better outcomes are achieved from trust based partnerships between government and health providers.
“Their doctor contracts are accordingly underpinned by an agreement with their respective medical associations.”
The government announced a plan to move the state’s senior medical doctors onto individual contracts late last year, following the release of the Auditor-General’s report into Right of Private Practice, an initiative which allowed private patients to be treated in public hospitals.
The report found the scheme had cost taxpayers $800 million since it was established in 2006.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg announced negotiations between doctors and the government over the contract terms had been completed and senior doctors had until the end of next month to sign the work contracts which have been offered by their employers.
But senior doctors have continued to protest over the terms of the contracts, which dissenters have said allow their terms of employment to be changed without consultation and remove unfair dismissal protections.
Doctors have repeatedly called for the government to continue negotiations. Dr Davis, a well-respected and liked member of the LNP gently called for his colleagues to consider their call.
“As MPs, we have an individual and collective responsibility to constituents to ensure that Queensland’s public hospital system operates the best possible governance arrangements,” he wrote.
“…confrontation with our medical workforce carries an unnecessary and significant risk for all key stakeholders, especially patients.
“Unreasonable power over senior doctors may be sought by some, but the cost will be borne by others.
“Drawing on my knowledge and experience of leadership in health care, the best solution in the public interest is to return to the negotiating table in good faith, using the agreement in Victoria as a reference point.”
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has been contacted for comment.
Source: Brisbane Times