Formal offer for Medical Officers Queensland

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Queensland Health Offer for a new Medical Officers’ Certified Agreement (MOCA4)

Queensland Health is working to rebuild its relationship with clinicians, recognising the professionalism and personal commitment of doctors to both the health system and the patients we serve.
Through extensive consultation, doctors and their representatives have told us their individual contracts do not provide the necessary protections they need and fail to recognise the professional standing they deserve for their commitment to, and their delivery of, frontline patient care.

Under recent changes to the Industrial Relations Act 1999 and Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, senior medical officers will move from individual contracts to coverage under a collective agreement that reinstates fair terms and conditions of employment, and elevates the status of clinical considerations in operational decision-making within our Hospital and Health Services.

The Queensland Government has restored collective bargaining rights to senior clinicians, along with employment security and full access to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
The following sets out Queensland Health’s offer for a new certified agreement covering senior medical officers (SMOs) and resident medical officers (RMOs) employed by the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services (collectively referred to as Queensland Health).
Representatives from the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services and unions representing medical staff [Australian Senior Medical Officers Federation Queensland (ASMOFQ) and Together Queensland (TQ)] have held 14 meetings since early May 2015 to progress the development of a new certified agreement.

This offer provides proposed terms for inclusion in a new certified agreement to replace the current Medical Officers’ (Queensland Health) Certified Agreement (No. 3) 2012 (MOCA3).
Queensland Health Offer for a new Medical Officers’ Certified Agreement (MOCA4)

Together Queensland will be running member meetings in hospitals and health facilities around the state and by teleconference. To organise a meeting in your facility please email health@together.org.au.

In conjunction with these meetings as Together members we will be asking you to vote on the offer.

Summary of offer:

You can view the offer here.

This offer addresses many of the issues that members have raised including:

For RMOs

  • Wage increase of 2.5% per year for 3 years
  • Increase to Professional Development allowance including indexation  
  • Maximum of 7 consecutive nightshifts followed by mandatory days off 
  • Provision of safe travel home when fatigued

For SMOs:

  • Wage increase of 2.5% per year for 3 years
  • Returning to MOCA3 provisions for the majority of conditions
  • Converting “Option A allowances” into an official recruitment and retention payment included in the agreement for the first time
  • Returning to payment by exception for on call, overtime and Public Holiday work (SMO may request to annualise on call)
  • Restoring employment security
  • Maintaining existing individual Tier 4 contractual arrangements (for their existing term)
  • Return of 10 hour “fatigue break”
  • Consultation forums restored
  • Minimum 10% CST restored, with access to CST guaranteed for all SMO’s
  • Protection against being compelled to work extended hours
  • Equity in part-time motor vehicle allowance

There are also some other outstanding issues that have not been agreed to such as:

  • No contingency for payment for work performed remotely while on call
  • “Option A” replacement only superannuated under Federal Guarantee (as before)
  • CMA/MMA remains non-superannuable (post november 2012)

Members should pay close attention to the details of the multipliers to be paid for overtime, recall etc. which largely are proposed to remain as per the SMO contract provisions.

Note the differences in penalties between MOCA3 and the contracts are summarised here.

Queensland Health have demonstrated that the majority of SMOs will be better off under these multiplier but there may be some SMOs who are worse off than they would have been under MOCA3 on these multipliers.

The extended hours provisions should also be carefully considered and we will provide further analysis on these issues as soon as possible. We have had many hours of negotiations on just this point.