Doctor contract impasse threatens juniors’ careers #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
AN ALREADY demanding job has become stressful for junior doctors as they nervously await the outcome of the state’s public hospital doctor contract dispute.
Senior doctors have threatened to walk away from Queensland’s public health system unless the State Government abandons controversial new work contracts.
But after weeks of negotiations there is still no sign of a resolution to the bitter stalemate.
Junior doctor Libby Anderson, 31, said the mood was tense among her colleagues, amid fears that mass senior doctor resignations would cripple the Queensland health system.
Dr Anderson, an orthopedic trainee at Ipswich Hospital, said the dispute could also jeopardise medical training opportunities for the next generation of doctors.
“My training needs to be accredited by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Orthopaedic Association,” she said. “To obtain that, I need to receive a certain level of supervision and teaching…my training will be hindered without my senior doctors around.”
Dr Anderson believed the government should extend the contract-signing deadline of April 30, to give doctors more time to better understand their contracts.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said the deadline was put into place to enable the government to prepare a test run of the payroll system with the new arrangements.
Mr Springborg said it would ensure doctors received their first pay of the new financial year – under the new system – on time.
He said the government had moved a long way to accommodate every concern raised by doctors’ representatives in the recent round of talks.
“If, despite all this, doctors unions are successful in their plan for mass resignations, we will have contingency arrangements in place,” he said. “Any resigning senior medical officers or visiting medical officers will need to give three months’ notice. Our plans take this into account.”
Mr Springborg said recruiting from interstate or overseas was one of the many options.
“Purchasing services from private providers, many who have already been involved in the long-running surgery connect scheme, is another option,” he said.
He believed the concerns of young doctors were not because of contracts, but because of the planned actions of unions. Junior doctors will hold a forum tomorrow in Brisbane to share their concerns.