Queensland doctors’ pay dispute deadlock could impact healthcare quality

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Queensland doctors’ pay dispute deadlock could impact healthcare quality #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors

PREMIER Campbell Newman and Health Minister Lawrence Springborg face one of the greatest challenges of their political lives in sorting out the doctors crisis.

On the one hand, they fervently believe rorting doctors need to be put in their place and banished from the system to make it more efficient and economically viable. That is a given.

But their zeal to clean up the system and stop the rorts must not be done at the expense of quality healthcare in this state. As it stands, if the doctors are to be believed, the Newman Government’s proposal has the potential to sabotage proper healthcare in Queensland.

They argue that if 3000 specialists resign en masse from the public hospital system it will plunge this state into the healthcare dark ages – and we may never recover because training of the younger brigade will be irreparably damaged.

The problem for the majority of doctors in this dispute is that a small percentage of their militant colleagues have waged a jihad against anyone who disagrees with them.

It’s ugly and dumb. The doctors’ real message has been diluted by a small percentage of doctors who would rather play the man than the ball. Reasoned, rational argument is the key to a positive outcome in this dispute.

Mr Newman and Mr Springborg want to maintain a world-class hospital system in this state. The last thing the Premier and the Health Minister want to see is Queenslanders dying unnecessarily because our hospital system collapsed under their watch. They have quite rightly identified that some doctors have been taking us – the taxpayers – for a ride and they are determined to stop the rorts.

But at the same time, doctors justifiably argue it is medical specialists – not bean-counters – who should decide when a patient is ready to go home.

Maybe we need someone like former treasurer Peter Costello or one-time federal opposition leader Brendan Nelson, a doctor himself, to sit down with the key stakeholders and mediate.

A solution that preserves the quality of our hospital system but makes it more efficient and economically sustainable is paramount. The Government and doctors need to sort this out. Both will be judged poorly if it is not.

Source: Courier Mail