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Doctors to take professional action

Victorian public hospital doctors will step-up their campaign for an improved remuneration package, to ensure there are sufficient doctors for the Victorian public.

 

AMA Victoria President Dr Mark Yates said despite participating in six meetings before the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the State Government still appeared to have little understanding of the serious threat the current chasm in pay and conditions, compared to other states, presents to our public hospitals.

                      

“Our commitment during negotiations, to continue providing care in public hospitals, is being abused.

 

“Last week Treasurer John Brumby acknowledged Victorian doctors are paid less than those in Queensland and NSW. Health Minister Bronwyn Pike has admitted one cause of the long outpatient waiting times is a shortage of specialists. However, the Bracks Government is still not prepared to broker a solution.

 

“This is a key public health issue. We already know junior doctors are working interstate and our senior doctors are being headhunted by NSW, Queensland and SA.

 

“It is evident that the Bracks Government is stalling the negotiation process and doctors have been left with little choice but to take action,” Dr Yates said.

 

“A second offer was made by the government on May 29, but it is lamentable and has been rejected. Again the Bracks Government failed to address the serious concerns raised by doctors.”

 

Dr Yates said doctors would continue to put patient care first, and would initially take professional action that would include:

 

·          Ceasing administrative work that is not remunerated

·          Not working unpaid sessions

·          Claiming all entitlements including overtime, on-call and recalls

·          Ceasing participation on committees that are not remunerated

 

“Doctors work a considerable amount of unpaid time to ensure Victorians are treated in a timely manner and our hospitals run efficiently. These actions have the potential to have a significant impact on hospitals and the government over the next few months.

 

“Many of our members are very angry at the government’s lack of acknowledgement of key concerns raised by doctors and want further action. However, the aim of these actions is to focus on the government and hospitals and not on direct patient care.

 

“The Bracks Government has acknowledged that Victoria is a service based economy. Our greatest resource is our skilled professionals, including doctors, and we need to keep them. However, we are not competing with the Labor Governments in NSW, Queensland and SA, so the Victorian public is losing out.

 

“If doctors’ concerns are not dealt with by the State Government now, Victoria’s doctor shortage will worsen and we will have serious problems in attracting and retaining doctors,” Dr Yates said.

 

AMA Victoria will meet with doctors at major hospitals over the next four weeks to further discuss areas where professional action can be taken.

 

A second phase of professional action will occur if these initial actions fail to gain a reasonable response from the State Government.

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