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Doctors accept pay offer
10 February 2009
AMA Victoria today accepted the State Government’s enterprise bargaining offer for public hospital doctors.
The four year agreement – to be backdated from December 2008 when the offer was made – provides an initial pay boost to public hospital doctors of five to 7.5 per cent, depending on the doctors’ classification, and annual increases thereafter.
AMA Victoria President Dr Doug Travis said the pay offer was a significant investment in health care and had member support.
“After several years of being the lowest paid doctors in the country the pay increase means Victorian doctors’ pay will be back in the pack with other states,” he said.
“We asked our members to tell us whether or not we should accept the offer. We had an excellent response rate of 40 per cent to the ballot. More than 95 per cent of replies were yes so that was our answer.”
The doctors’ pay increase was offered as part of a public hospital reform package to improve working conditions and patient care, most notably an additional 276 public hospital beds.
“We are living in tough economic times but continued health care investment is essential to meet the needs of our growing population and to maintain high standards of care,” Dr Travis said.
The package also includes an $80 million commitment to boost specialist clinical support time. Adequate clinical support time allows doctors to meet quality assurance, research, teaching and training requirements. As more doctors enter the public hospital system in coming years, clinical support time will improve quality and services.
“Improved clinical support time is an investment in the future of Victoria’s hospitals,” Dr Travis said, “and will help specialists support the influx of new graduates and new patients.
“We expect the Victorian Government to implement the package quickly so the state’s public hospitals can move forward with much-needed reform.”
Background:
There are several classifications of doctors in the Victorian Public Hospital system. There are more than 20 different pay scales, with three key groups:
- Doctors in training including interns, registrars and residents; doctors who have graduated and are in their first 5-8 years of postgraduate training.
- Senior medical staff are qualified specialists who work full time or part time in public hospitals as their main occupation.
- Visiting medical officers (VMOs) who are qualified specialists who work predominantly in private practice and do a number of public hospital sessions.
Visit AMA Victoria’s member zone for more details
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