Replacement plan a joke say medics as quit deadline pushed back #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
IT is your health system but executives are refusing to publicly reveal their “contingency plan” if senior doctors resign en masse over work agreements.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service board chairman Bob Norman wouldn’t be drawn into revealing the plan to The Cairns Post yesterday, despite admissions that up to 150 local medics had drafted their intention to leave.
“There is one (a plan) but I’m not going to discuss what it is,’’ he said. “The situation is we don’t know how many will resign.”
Doctors believe the only option would be to hire interstate locum (temporary) doctors who would charge up to $2000 a day for service.
“My feeling is there is no contingency plan, I honestly don’t know where they are going to find the extra doctors,’’ Senior Medical Staff Association representative Stephen Vincent said.
“We have had troubles for years recruiting doctors to Cairns and there is a worldwide shortage of specialists.”
Senior medical officers are contractually bound to give at least two months’ notice to leave, which Mr Norman (pictured) said would give executives “time to put things in place”.
He reiterated that no doctor would be forced to sign the new contracts but said those who stayed on their current agreements would miss out on their private practice allowance from July 1.
More than 1000 resignations were supposed to land on the desk of Queensland Health’s director general Ian Maynard yesterday, however the looming resignation deadline has now been pushed back.
This is because Mr Maynard last week cut the three-month notice period to two months to give doctors more time to decide whether to sign their individual contracts by April 30.
The new contracts will affect 241 senior and visiting medical officers who currently work within the Cairns health service.
Together union representative and Cairns Hospital doctor Sandy Donald said he was not aware how many Cairns doctors would quit.
“There have been a lot (of resignations) and the number keeps increasing,’’ Dr Donald said.
“We are advising people to give it a few more days in the hope the government will show some interest in reaching a reasonable solution.”
It is understood the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation is stockpiling resignation letters until they reach a critical mass.
“We know there is a lot – a lot of the junior doctors said they will quit too if the seniors quit.”
Second-year doctors are required to work under senior supervision while specialist trainees have to work under specialist supervision.
Junior doctors only have to give two weeks’ notice, Dr Donald said.
“There has been no discussion of a contingency plan, other than (executives) hope it doesn’t happen.” he said. “We could lose three generations of doctors in about three months.”
Member of Keep Our Doctors Taskforce and senior medico Sean McManus flew to Brisbane yesterday to attend a meeting with union officials to plot their next move.
“We want the government to come back and negotiate a solution to this crisis,’’ he said.
Dr McManus, who helped evacuate patients from Cairns Hospital during cyclone Yasi, said he would attempt to find employment in the private sector if the State Government did not back down.
“My expertise is keeping people alive in intensive care … it’s not in industrial relations,’’ he said.
“The ball is in the government’s court.
“They need to push back the implementation of these contracts by six months and amend the legislation.”
Both Mr Maynard and Health Minister Lawrence Springborg did not comment on the long-running contract debacle yesterday.
Source: Cairns Post