Queensland doctors want Health Minister Lawrence Springborg to intervene in public hospital contracts dispute #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
DOCTORS are pleading for Health Minister Lawrence Springborg’s intervention to break the stalemate over individual public hospital contracts.
Talks between doctor representatives and Queensland Health bureaucrats will reconvene on Monday after three days of discussions this week failed to break the impasse.
Australian Medical Association federal president Steve Hambleton said the Newman Government’s refusal to make legislative changes, particularly to the Industrial Relations Act, was at the heart of the deadlock.
Queensland Health Director-General Ian Maynard left Friday night’s meeting saying solutions were on the table, but changes to legislation and the contract framework had been ruled out by Mr Springborg.
Dr Hambleton called on the minister to step in and solve the crisis.
“The profession’s really demonstrated its willingness to fix the problem by attending these discussions. The Director-General has made it clear that he’s got a shared goal to minimise further damage to the health system,” he said.
“The reality is the Minister needs to realise it’s the legislative changes which are the most damaging.
“Both the legislation and the contract need to be changed. That’s what’s going to give us the fix. We’re asking the minister to recognise what led to this problem. We need the minister to listen.”
If talks on Monday collapse, it will set the scene for medical specialists to proceed with plans for mass resignations from the public sector, starting as early as next week.
Another meeting of doctors is planned for the Pineapple Hotel on Wednesday, but the venue is expected to move to the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre because of the large number of doctors and patients planning to attend.
Meanwhile, the Committee of Presidents of Australia’s Medical Colleges has issued a position statement on the contracts seeking reassurances from Queensland Health that they are carefully evaluated and will be continuously monitored in relation to teaching and training outcomes for junior doctors.
Most of the training of young doctors is done in the public sphere.
“The Australian community is entitled to expect that medical specialists will be trained to high standards of competence under appropriate supervision to ensure the provision of high quality, safe patient care,’’ the presidents’ position statement says.
“The Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges would view with concern any reduction in senior medical staff numbers and time for supervision, education and professional development that might negatively impact on the teaching and training of doctors in the health care system and have a flow-on effect to the delivery of quality clinical services.
“Like Queensland Health, the Medical Colleges aim to promote the best possible health outcomes, both in the short term through best practice service delivery and in the longer term through the teaching and training of a high quality medical workforce.”
Doctors have made it clear they are not opposed to contracts.
But they say the proposed Newman Government contracts are “draconian and unfair”, eroding hard fought for conditions.
They are particularly concerned about being able to be terminated without cause, fatigue provisions, rostering and dispute arbitration processes if the proposed contracts are not rewritten.