Keep our Doctors calls for resolution over contract stalemate #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
The Keep our Doctors campaign group has called for an “urgent return to negotiations” on doctor contracts and has presented the government with three options it believes will resolve the current stand-off.
Fairfax Media has obtained the letter sent to Health Director-General Ian Maynard on Wednesday, which asks for further discussions in order to end the impasse, saying “we are confident that an agreement can soon be reached that puts the interest of the Queensland public first”.
The group claims the set of options put forward “ensures the Queensland public health system remains one of the best in the world”, balances senior doctors’ “clinical autonomy in caring for patients” against the efficiencies the government was seeking to achieve, and provides “certainty to senior doctors in respect to the terms and conditions of their employment”.
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Keep Our Doctors: options to resolve the Queensland doctors’ dispute
The SMO & VMO Taskforce representing senior doctors wish to resolve the present dispute and reach an agreement with the Government that:
a) ensures the Queensland public health system remains one of the best in the world;
b) ensures that Senior Doctors’ clinical autonomy in caring for patients is appropriately balanced against the responsibility of the Government to efficiently and effectively operate the Queensland public health system; and
c) provides certainty to Senior Doctors in respect of the terms and conditions of their employment.
Three options for consideration
Option 1 – Vary MOCA3 and Awards
Renegotiate the MOCA3 and Awards.
Requires:
a) by negotiations with the SMO & VMO Taskforce, vary the MOCA3 and Awards to meet the Government’s stated health policy objectives;
b) amend the Industrial Relations Act 1999 to MOCA3 and Awards not overridden by contract or directive;
c) amend the Hospital and Health Boards Act to allow for certified agreements to prevail over contracts;
d) retain high-income guarantee contracts (for those SMOs and VMOs who so choose) that are negotiated to deal with issues identified by Senior Doctors;
e) issue Health Employment Directive providing for PPA for all Senior Doctors who freely choose to remain on MOCA3 and Awards;
Option 2 – Contract and Collective Agreement – the Victorian Model
This is the model that is used in Victoria to determine Senior Doctors’ terms and conditions of employment.
This option allows for the Government to implement high-income guarantee contracts which would be underpinned by a MOCA3-style collective agreement;
Requires:
a) by negotiations with the SMO & VMO Taskforce, negotiate a MOCA3-style agreement to meet the Government’s stated health policy objectives;
b) amend the Industrial Relations Act 1999 to MOCA3-style agreement not be overridden by contract or directive;
c) amend the Hospital and Health Boards Act to allow for certified agreements to prevail over contracts;
d) retain high-income guarantee contracts (for those SMOs and VMOs who so choose) that are negotiated to deal with issues identified by Senior Doctors;
Option 3 – Contract negotiations under HHB Act
The creation of a separate jurisdiction for regularly determining by negotiation and, in the absence of agreement, binding and independent arbitration by a member of the QIRC, the terms and conditions of employment for “senior health service employees” on contract and their PPA.
Requires:
a) amend the Hospital and Health Boards Act to create a new jurisdiction to be implemented with effect form 1 July 2014 to allow negotiation of a contract commencing on 1 July 2015;
b) negotiation of the current proposed contract to address issues identified by Senior Doctors;
c) Senior Doctors are able to freely choose to stay on MOCA3 and Awards or sign the current contract, without threat of loss of PPA, until the new contract commences on 1 July 2015;
d) issue Health Employment Directive providing for PPA for all Senior Doctors who freely choose to remain on MOCA3 and Awards until the new contract commences on 1 July 2015;
e) Contracts to be negotiated every three (3) years.
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Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said the government had negotiated in good faith, creating an addendum in consultation with doctors groups, which addressed their key concerns and would not be offering any further concessions.
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But Keep Our Doctors contends that either varying the award, following the contracts model employed in Victoria, or creating a separate jurisdiction for contract negotiation, could solve the issues.
All options would require legislative amendments, including to the industrial relations act, which Mr Springborg has repeatedly ruled out.
The government announced last month it was putting in place “contingency plans” if the state’s senior doctors carried through their threat to resign en masse and was investigating contracting doctors from interstate and overseas.
Junior doctors have expressed concerns that internationally trained doctors would not be accredited quickly enough to be able to teach them and a specialist-shortage across the country would make attracting interstate doctors difficult, particularly for regional areas.
Keep Our Doctors, while one of the biggest critics of the government’s handling over the issue, says a solution is possible.
“SMOs and VMOs remain committed to ensuring the Queensland public health system remains the best in the country, and that they have certainty in respect of their terms and conditions of employment,” the letter read.
“Despite some unfortunate communications in recent times, that commitment remains steadfast.
“We are ready and able to negotiate at any time that suits you, however we believe given the importance of the situation and the impact on the Queensland public, that this is a matter of urgency.”
Source; Brisbane Times