Both sides of the doctor contracts fight to state their cases head to head

The Bulletin invited both sides of the doctor contracts fight to state their cases head to head. Here are their arguments #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
TENSIONS reached boiling point again yesterday in the stand-off between the State Government and senior medical officers.

The Newman Government vowed to recruit more doctors to replace those who quit the public hospital system over the individual contracts row.

Premier Campbell Newman told State Parliament more doctors would be recruited if senior medical officers SMOs followed through on their threats to ­resign.

“If people do choose to ­resign, we will have in place ­arrangements to replace those people and if we have to ­replace people from interstate or overseas … we shall do that,’’ Mr Newman said.

“We will give anybody who wants to work in our public health system, which will be the best in Australia, the opportunity to do that.’’

Unions reacted by saying the threat to bring in overseas doctors to fill any vacancies was an insult to the state’s senior doctors and a grave concern for Queensland’s patients.

Director-General Ian Maynard had meetings with doctors yesterday to ensure they understood how their contracts work. He will visit the Gold Coast University Hospital today.

The Bulletin invited both parties, for the first time, to state their cases head to head.

Here are the arguments:
Lawrence Springborg, Health Minister

The move to switch public hospital doctors to individual contracts is driven by recent reports of the State’s independent guardian of public money — the Auditor-General.

His reports into the flawed administration of private ­patients in public hospitals by the former Labor government were endorsed yesterday in a unanimous vote by the Queensland Parliament.

These findings, now endorsed from all sides of Queensland politics, provide the template for the Government’s proposed contracts to take effect from July 7.

The Auditor-General found failed governance and grossly inadequate financial controls have cost our health system and its patients more than $800 million.

Unattended, they would continue to bleed as much as $120 million a year in funding from our hospitals. This unfair system continues to award precedence to private patients in public hospitals.

Public patients are being pushed aside to accommodate the private patients of doctors with salaries paid from the public purse.

The Government simply cannot shun its obligation to protect the vulnerable particularly when the need for change comes recommended by both the Auditor-General and all state parliamentarians.

Since August last year, the Government has negotiated with doctors to replace these arrangements in the most direct and effective way, through individual contracts aligned to the former Federal Labor government’s Fair Work Act.

Contracts will translate the doctors’ high annual incomes (senior medical officers average more $400,000 pa) into new packages, with equal or improved outcomes.

At various times, they have won support from a range of doctors’ representatives, including the AMA federal president Steve Hambleton, AMAQ president Christian Rowan, Visiting Medical Officers representative, Dr Ross Cartmill and his VMO committee.

The Government asks that all within the public health ­system, including our key medical staff, join in support of this process.
Dr James Innes, Staff Specialist — emergency department

Tell him he’s dreaming.

Just as Darryl Kerrigan said in The Castle, we are trying to tell Premier Newman he is ­dreaming. He is telling the public and the medical profession he will fill the spaces left by resigning doctors with overseas and ­interstate doctors.

On Wednesday night, at the third Pineapple meeting in Brisbane, more than 1300 doctors met to discuss the ongoing crisis that has resulted from the State Government’s decision to change legislation and force us on to individual employment contracts.

We heard from passionate doctors, grateful patients, and to his credit, the Director-General of Queensland Health himself who talked us through the latest negotiations and offers.

The media reported that he left with a pineapple in his hand.

This is true — we all left with pineapples in hand as a measure of solidarity with our profession and the patients of Queensland.

Many, many doctors said they will resign.

This battle we are facing is not about money. It is about retaining hard-earned conditions of employment to ensure the profession is staffed by passionate and competent doctors.

Our potential work conditions will be destabilised, and the contracts rely on trusting the Government to not change our work conditions at any time without warning or consultation.

We do not think we are in a position to trust them yet. Trust has to be earned.

The Government wants to punish the majority of doctors because of the alleged rorts of the minority.

The public and medical profession should not have to suffer because of this minority.

To look forward we need to look to the past.

If the Government wants to return to the dark days of Bundaberg Hospital it is moving in the right direction. And they are moving fast.

Source: GoldCoast Bulletin