Long hours, burnout and surging violence: Broken health system pushing SA’s junior doctors to the brink

A young SA doctor on the brink of exhaustion has been warned not to start a family, as extreme workloads, ramping, and rising violence push healthcare staff to breaking point.

The relentless demands of South Australia’s medical system are pushing junior doctors like Olivia Smith, 27, to breaking point with her own GP advising against starting a family due to her extreme stress levels.

The overwhelming workload, gruelling hours, and rising violence towards healthcare staff have led the third-year post graduate to consider leaving the profession numerous times.

Shot of a young female doctor looking stressed out while standing at a window in a hospital

“Most rotations don’t have enough doctors employed for the amount of hours that are needed and expect things of junior doctors that they’re not qualified for,” she said.

“We end up working way too many hours and people get burnt out and they make mistakes.

“I would not have been a doctor if I knew what it was going to be like.”

She often works up to 100 hours a fortnight including around 10 hours of overtime without proper lunch breaks, leaving her burnt out.

“I rarely have time to clean my house, do my washing, gardening, cooking, and buying groceries,” she said.

“I don’t want to work overtime, but it’s always necessary to pay my bills and keep patients safe.”

Dr Smith, who earns $96,000 a year, said the amount that junior doctors are paid isn’t reflective of their work and the personal and financial sacrifices they make.

“When compared to other professions, the amount we’re compensated for what we do and how hard it is, isn’t reflective of the value of our work,” she said.

“I know many doctors who do locum work during their annual leave as they want to save up money.

“Plenty of people say, when you become a consultant, you will earn a lot more money, as if to justify the juniors being paid less.”

Over the past 10 months, SASMOA (South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association) has been in negotiations with the State Government regarding a new enterprise agreement.

SASMOA initially advocated for a 10 per cent annual pay rise for all public sector doctors over three years. However, earlier this week, SASMOA endorsed the State Government’s proposal of a 13.6 per cent wage increase over four years.

This includes a $4,050 increase to the base pay for all junior doctors, raising the maximum professional development reimbursement by $1,500 for those in accredited training programs and extending the minimum break time between shifts to 10 hours.

Although she welcomed the increased minimum break time between shifts, Dr Smith said the proposed pay rise was disappointing.

“They said that (30 per cent is) what we deserved and they’re accepting about a third of that,” she said.

She also noted that approximately half of the state’s junior doctors, who are not in accredited training programs, would “miss out” on additional funding.

With hopes of becoming a GP, Dr Smith said reform was urgently needed.

“Having healthcare staff paid adequately and rostered fairly should be the bare minimum,” she said.

A fake name has been used for confidentiality.

Originally published as Long hours, burnout and surging violence: Broken health system pushing SA’s junior doctors to the brink