Newman urged to intervene in Queensland Health stand-off #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors #auspol
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman is being urged to sideline his health minister as doctors at public hospitals threaten to resign en masse over individual contracts.
Mr Newman returns to Queensland this weekend after a 10-day trade mission to the US.
But with senior medical officers continuing to resist plans for individual contracts, Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk says the premier needs to intervene.
“The premier today needs to sideline his health minister and take action, take control of the health crisis and fix it,” she told reporters in Brisbane.
“This is a crisis that has been building for a period of months and the government has been failing to listen.”
The Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation of Queensland is understood to be in the process of sending out mass resignation letters to its medical specialist members, working in public hospitals, from Monday.
The Australian Medical Association is also opposed to plans for local hospital boards to have more power in dismissing senior medical officers.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg last week held talks with doctors’ groups but the government is adamant it won’t revisit legislation, which has removed the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission from disputes resolutions.
Source: AAP