I urge you to seek the truth and hold both Newman and Springborg accountable to their actions – A letter. #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
QUEENSLANDERS from all walks of life, please take note!
I realise that a significant proportion of you may already have had your news feeds swamped recently by those working or involved with healthcare, with discussion relating to this contract dispute between Queensland Health and its doctors.
If this did not interest you before, I urge you to please keep at least one ear open to the issue now.
It has the potential to profoundly affect you, or someone dear to you, if the actions of those on both sides of the fence actually come into effect without effective resolution.
Over the next week or so, it appears that the Newman Govt will be embarking on a propaganda PR campaign to sully and slander the integrity/reputation of the most senior doctors in our Queensland PUBLIC health system.
It started today with them taking out full-page ads in the Sunday Mail.
It appears the aim of the Newman Govt’s campaign is to shift the public’s opinion on the matter by painting these doctors as greedy and somehow corrupt, by refusing to accept the contracts on offer.
The senior medical officers involved in these contract discussion are NOT asking for more money, nor are they seeking improved remuneration packages.
The point of contention is the TERMS of employment to which they are being forced to comply that are simply unfair, if not frankly draconian.
You can see for yourself in the link below, from Qld Health’s own publication, some of the unreasonable terms. Oh, not to mention that part of signing the contract also mean they can be altered by Qld Health after they have been signed at their discretion.
The addendum to the contracts-:
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/medical/medical-contracts/docs/contract-addendum.pdf
“But surely doctors already get paid too much as it stands!” I hear some of you whisper. Well, here is the truth behind how much PUBLIC doctors in the Queensland health system actually gets paid. Again, another of Qld Health’s own publications.
Senior Medical Officer’s salaries-:
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/medical/docs/payrates_2012.pdf
You may have noted yourself that the very highest pay bracket sees an individual senior doctor paid $221,232 per year (of which he/she would be indeed a leader in their chosen specialty) which is far short of the “$400,000 for a 40hr week” being bandied around by Newman and his posse.
You would have noted that I have repeated placed emphasis of the PUBLIC nature of these doctor’s work.
This is due to the fact that the nature of these discussions often gets blurred in the public’s mind with what specialists in the PRIVATE setting earn.
Bear in mind also, that many of these specialists elect to remain within Qld Health out of their personal moral/professional obligation to contributing in the public health system at a sizeable financial disadvantage.
Ask yourself, if you could be paid more to do effectively the same job, would you take it?
Well, the doctors involved in these discussions didn’t, so they’re clearly not “just in it for the money” as the Newman Govt would like you to believe.
“BUT I’VE GOT THE TOP PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COVER, SO THIS WON’T AFFECT ME!”
Is a rebuttal I hear all too often. Well, yes, that is helpful in certain circumstances.
However, I can assure you that if your life was at risk and requiring emergent medical intervention (ie. Car accident, workplace accident, psychological emergency, etc), that your emergency life-saving interaction with healthcare will most likely come through the PUBLIC health system and not privately as you assume.
That’s because we have first-class public Critical Care Facilities led by some of these world-leading specialists we are looking at losing if the Newman Govt gets its way!
So why have I got myself so up-in-a-knot over this?
Firstly, let me clarify that yes, I am a medical practitioner/doctor. However, I have no affiliation with Qld Health, other than to access their services for some of my patients whom I refer, nor will the outcome of this issue have any impact on my future employment/livelihood.
This is an important issue for me, worth being vocal about, because I have close friends and family who live in Queensland that I am genuinely concerned for if this mass resignation of SMOs takes place.
They will at some point in their lives, need to interact with the Queensland health system for the preservation of their health/wellbeing and being a medical professional has given me insight into disastrous outcomes the Newman Govt’s actions will have on both their ability to access this service and the quality of the healthcare my friends and family receive.
So please, I again urge you to seek the truth over these coming days/weeks of the Newman Govt’s propaganda campaign and hold both Newman and Springborg, whom were elected by us, accountable to their actions.
Actions which WILL leave a lasting, detrimental legacy on the ability of ALL Queenslanders to access quality healthcare, if both Newman and his Health Minister continues to refuse adequate negotiations of the terms of these contracts with their doctors.
Source: Facebook