QUEENSLAND’S assistant health minister Chris Davis has hit out against the Newman Government’s controversial individual contracts for public hospital specialists. #keepourdoctors
In an extraordinary letter obtained by The Courier-Mail, the member for Stafford said government reassurances the proposed contracts were “benign and beneficial’’ were not consistent with their detail and tenor.
“Command and control doctor contracts are not governance best practice and furthermore threaten medical professionalism where the prime duty is to the patient,’’ he said.
“Contracts that could harm patients and be detrimental to the broader community make my position in this government untenable. They would also be contrary to my vision for an improved healthcare system as articulated when elected by the people of Stafford.
“To my knowledge, my local LNP members are as concerned by the current doctor contracts as I am.’’
Dr Davis’s letter confirmed significant numbers of senior doctors familiar with the detail of the government’s proposed contracts had rejected them.
“Already some of the best are voting with their feet,’’ he said. “Legal advice, including that from a major medical indemnity organisation has highlighted the risks,’’ he said.
“These include dismissal clauses that could result in patient outcomes being compromised, removal of binding independent arbitration; and the power of the employer to unilaterally vary the contract.’’
Before entering State Parliament at the last election, Dr Davis was the Director of Geriatric Medicine at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. He is a former Australian Medical Association Queensland president and is married to a public hospital specialist, Kate Sinclair.
Senior medical officers have threatened to leave the public hospital system if the contracts go ahead in their current form, describing them as “draconian’’.