Poll shows Townsville residents against individual doctor contracts #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
MORE than 85 per cent of Townsville voters fear there will be a mass walkout of public health doctors if individual contracts are introduced.
Survey results released today also reveal 68 per cent of residents oppose the State Government’s scheme, which aims to address imbalances in the system.
Local MPs Sam Cox, John Hathaway and David Crisafulli eased fears yesterday and ruled out a mass exodus, saying most doctors wanted to continue doing their jobs.
Thuringowa MP Sam Cox said he was confident local doctors would stay on in their positions.
“I can say people do not have to worry because senior doctors are telling me there are more that are intending to sign,” he said.
“I have absolute faith that this is going to work out and the doctors are going to come to a consensus.”
Mr Cox said the campaign against the individual contracts was scaremongering by “union thugs”.
“They don’t care about the patients, they’re just trying to look after themselves,” he said.
“Doctors want to look after patients and the government wants to look after patients. This (opposition) smelt of union right from the word go.”
The poll also revealed that 77 per cent of Mundingburra residents believed bringing in foreign doctors to replace any doctors that walked out would negatively impact hospitals.
Keep Our Doctors spokesman Dr Siva Senthuran said the survey results reflected Townsville’s opposition to the individual contracts.
“It’s time the Health Minister and Premier listened to the community and stopped this attack on our public health system,” he said.
“Rather than trying to find a sensible solution, the Premier and Health Minister are actually daring doctors to leave the system. Then just say they’ll bring in foreign doctors if our local doctors leave.
“The vast majority of Townsville residents aren’t happy with that approach — we’ve seen how that’s turned out in the past.”
Townsville MP John Hathaway said he was confident common ground would be reached.
“I’ve been dealing with a number of Senior Medical Officers (SMO) from a number of specialties and they have the best interests of North Queensland patients at heart, as do the Hospital and Health Services Board does,” he said.
Mundingburra MP David Crisafulli said the individual contracts was a response to the director-general’s concern for the system, which needed reforming.
“The vast majority of doctors will realise that the contracts won’t be harmful to them,” he said.
Source: Townsville Bulletin