AMA- Further progress in resolving contract dispute #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today there had been further positive steps towards resolving the Queensland hospital doctor contract dispute.
“Last night, the Queensland Health Minister put forward a significantly revised offer, which attempts to address many of the sticking points that are
preventing Senior Medical Officers (SMOs) and Visiting Medical Offices (VMOs) from accepting the contracts,” Dr Hambleton said.
“The AMA welcomes the new offer from the Minister. It represents substantial progress and a real chance to settle this dispute.
“The new offer has the potential to rule out the need for mass resignations by disaffected doctors across the State.
“However, both sides still need to work cooperatively over the finer details of the contracts to ensure everything is in order,” Dr Hambleton said.
The AMA understands that the key elements of the offer, in addition to the change to the Hospital and Health Boards Act that has already been agreed, are:
- -the incorporation of the draft addendum, appropriately worded, into the contract;
- -the Government will remove the word ‘profitability’ from clause 25(5) of the core contract;
- -the Clinical Senate will advise and oversee the KPI process over the next two years; and
- -the Government will establish a collective process for future contract negotiations via a proposed “Contract Advisory Committee”, which will include the option of arbitration.
Dr Hambleton said that, in principle, the proposed revisions appear to address the key issues raised by the AMA and others with the Government.
“The devil will be in the detail, which we now need to get right,” Dr Hambleton said.
“The Government, the unions, and the AMA now have an opportunity to show real leadership and return to get the detail of these proposals right so that they can be properly considered by SMOs and VMOs.
“The community wants this dispute settled, and the SMOs and VMOs want to get on with what they do best – treating and caring for patients.
“With goodwill from all sides, we are in a good position to resolve this dispute to the satisfaction of all parties.”
Source: AMA