SIX more senior doctors have quit or gone part-time at Queensland Health in outcry over ill treatment by the Newman Government. #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
It comes with plans for mass statewide resignations by the state’s 3000 senior doctors in video-linked protest meetings tonight.
Cairns psychiatrist Dr Laurie Moore is the latest to “resign in disgust” because of the ongoing contract stoush.
“It shows these are not empty threats,” said Dr Moore, a 32-year medico who has worked at the Cairns mental health unit for five years.
“I don’t want to work in a place where they come in and cut people off at the knees,” she said.’
“This sort of behaviour is malicious and malignant. It shows ill intention towards the public health system.”
She took up the interstate job offer, made an offer on a house and booked removalists in despair over a system in chaos, Dr Moore said.
“We are just barely keeping the lid on what is going on here. It takes such a toll on nurses and doctors.
“There are too many mental health patients to take care of as it is.
“It is overworked and overcrowded. I don’t want to be responsible for someone killing themselves, killing staff, or bashing security guards. It is going to get worse unless people of Queensland rise up and stop this.
“I’ve resigned in disgust.”
In Cairns alone, they had a virtual ward with up to a dozen mental health patients in emergency room, another dozen in medicine and surgery wards, and 10 more in an annexe at the Cairns Private Hospital, she said.
The Cairns psychiatrist and a Townsville paediatric intensivist have both resigned in protest to take up jobs interstate.
In Townsville, an oncologist turned down a part-time job and a gastroenterologist has reduced his hours.
Two lung transplant physicians at Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane have also reportedly opted for part-time work.
Dr Clive Hadfield, ex-Director of Medicine at the CBH, said the loss of high-profile specialists was symptomatic of the disorder.
“It shows how much damage has already been done to the public health system,” Dr Hadfield said.
“Hospitals don’t work without doctors.”