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Geelong doctors slam government EBA inaction
27 September 2008
Medical Staff at Barwon Health slammed the Victorian Government for its lack of progress in offering a new enterprise bargaining agreement for the state’s public hospital doctors at a meeting with AMA Victoria this week.
The public hospital doctors’ enterprise bargaining agreement expired on 30 June and a new agreement is yet to be reached.
“We’ve been without an EBA for 12 weeks and our negotiations with the government are slow and inadequate,” AMA Victoria President Dr Doug Travis said. “The current government proposal does not offer pay parity with other states or address many of the major problems within our public hospital system.”
“Doctors don’t want the distraction of a long and drawn-out process; they want to concentrate on patient care. We have said all along that we are happy to reach a reasonable agreement early on and that offer remains open.”
AMA Victoria has been meeting hospital doctors across the state to seek feedback on the current proposal, hear concerns and discuss options for future action.
A meeting of Barwon Health’s senior medical staff passed a resolution on Thursday condemning the government’s slow progress and failure to make hospital improvements.
The Barwon Health doctors said the Health Minister had been sitting on a review of public hospital medical staff for the past nine months. The review notes that poor conditions and low morale in Victorian public hospitals are driving doctors away from the public sector
So far only seven of the 71 recommendations have been partially implemented and Barwon Health doctors say the lack of action is “adversely affecting patient safety, health care quality and recruitment and retention of doctors in Victoria”.
A Barwon Health doctor who attended the meeting told AMA Victoria that Geelong doctors “are angrier than they’ve been in more than a decade” at the government’s failure to address problems in the system.
Another senior doctor told AMA Victoria that three disillusioned Barwon Health doctors had left the system for more attractive positions in Queensland.
Failing a meaningful response from the Health Minister Barwon Health senior medical staff will meet in October to consider action.
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