SEVEN more doctors are prepared to walk away from Townsville Hospital if they are forced to sign individual contracts. #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors #Townsville
It comes as Queensland Health managers met senior doctor representatives yesterday to resolve the statewide dispute over the controversial new workplace arrangements.
Senior doctors within Townsville Hospital claim morale is low among staff, with several medical officers making plans to find employment outside of the public health sector.
They say the contracts will result in a loss of protections for doctors, which may ultimately diminish public healthcare.
Paediatric intensivist Dr Nathan Smalley, who has resigned from Townsville Hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit, said the lack of fatigue management under the new contracts was the final straw for him.
Dr Smalley, who worked at the hospital for more than two years, plans to relocate with his family to Western Australia within the next three months.
“Fatigue management is a big issue for a small speciality where there’s only very few of us, whereas before it’s been centralised and based in policy around the employer,’’ he said.
“They’re now trying to push that responsibility down on to the practitioners themselves.”
He said morale was “eroding” among his colleagues, warning he may not be the last doctor to resign over the contract issue.
Keep Our Doctors spokesman and Townsville Hospital intensivist Dr Siva Senthuran said he was aware of seven other medical officers who were willing to walk away from the hospital if they were forced to sign individual agreements by the April 30 deadline.
“These are guys who are going to do either one of two things – they’re either going to leave to the private sector or they’re going to move interstate; or they’re going to cut their time and they’re going to go part-time because they don’t want to work in the public system anymore,’’ he said.
“That’s a conservative estimate.”
The Townsville Hospital and Health Service has refused to say whether any more medical officers had resigned over the contract issue.
Queensland Health director-general Ian Maynard said there were a number of key issues to resolve with senior doctor representatives this week.
“The issues … include the role of the Director-General in contract alterations, dismissal processes, ‘no disadvantage’ provisions, linking key performance indicators with income, transfers, dispute arbitration and rostering and fatigue,’’ he said.
Source: Townsville Bulletin