NSW public system doctors start three-day strike
Doctors are walking off the job for three days in Australia’s biggest city, angry that they are the poor cousins of medicos in other states.
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Doctors are walking off the job for three days in NSW public hospitals.
The doctors say they can be paid 20 to 30 per cent more in Queensland or Victoria and are hoping to win pay rises like the state’s police, public servants, paramedics and teachers in the past 18 months.
Hundreds of doctors gathered at Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west and at the NSW Health headquarters near the CBD on Tuesday morning.
Homemade signs on display included messages such as “We’re stretched thinner than a perineum”, “Burnt Out Walking Out”, and “Should have stayed in WA”.
Signs made by the doctors’ union stated “Can’t see a doctor? Ask the Premier”.
“We’re striking because we want to keep the best doctors in the public hospitals we possibly can. And in the current conditions, with the current award, we just can’t do that,” Westmead Hospital doctor Mark Priestley told Channel 9.
“There are people leaving and the people that are staying here are working under conditions that we wouldn’t expect from anyone else or anywhere else in the country.”
Dr Priestley has been at Westmead for more than 40 years.
“I love my job, I love the people I work with. There are some particularly dedicated and talented people, and we just want to do what’s right for the patients and the patients appreciate it,” he said.
“Our colleagues, the nursing staff, they’re all very good people and work together. We just want to stay in the public system. But to do that, we just need to be remunerated properly.”
The Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation has initiated the three-day strike.
More than 5000 public sector doctors, from different specialties and levels of seniority, are striking from Tuesday to Thursday.
The state government has offered a 10.5 per cent pay rise over three years. The union wants a 30 per cent bump over a “reasonable” period of time, and then 3 per cent rises so doctors are at parity with other states. They also want minimum 10 hour breaks between shifts.
The union’s NSW branch director said the state government had failed to address overwork issues, such as doctors doing back-to-back 16-hour shifts.
Some elective surgeries and clinic appointments with a specialist will be cancelled. The state government expects about 700 elective surgeries will be cancelled.
Speaking to media shortly after the strikes kicked off, Premier Chris Minns acknowledged that NSW public doctors were underpaid.
“I accept they could earn more in other professions, taking on private clients for example or even in other jurisdictions.
“I also accept there’s been a decade’s worth of underpayment or wage suppression under the previous government, and that they’re a long way behind, or that they feel like they’re a long way behind.”
Junior doctors in particular were a long way behind in wage growth, Mr Minns said, but “12 years of wage suppression” could not be fixed in one swoop.
He contends there is a risk to patients because of the industrial action.
“There is a risk, I can’t downplay the risk. The risk is senior doctors, as well as junior doctors, won’t be available in the numbers that are required to ensure that people are seen quickly and to make sure we can offer the kind of health care and help that residents need when they go to a big emergency department.”
He said the government and the union met on Monday to determine which hospitals would be affected in what ways.
“Some of the work the government undertakes with the big unions when there is industrial actions is a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure there’s a minimum number of staff located, geographically spread across major hospitals; that wasn’t happening in relation to the doctors’ strike, and we’ll know more (later on Tuesday).”
NSW Health “regrettably” had experience ringing people to say their elective surgery was not happening, so Mr Minns said affected patients would all likely be contacted.
Authorities would monitor the situation at Westmead closely to avoid the major hospital going on “bypass” and patients being sent to smaller hospitals, Mr Minns said.
Mr Minns also commended doctors who had chosen the public sector.
Health Minister Ryan Park said a 10.5 per cent pay rise was fair.
“I share the community’s desire to see our healthcare workers paid more – it’s why we’ve offered a 10.5 per cent multi-year wage increases (on top of the 4.5 per cent already in pockets) and sat down with unions over many years to deliver those pay increases,” he said in a statement.
“We do not want this,” he said of the strike.
The union had walked away from negotiations and the independent Industrial Relations Commission, Mr Park said.
He argued that patient safety was being put at risk, a contention the striking workers disagreed with.
Westmead Children’s doctor Zach McPherson said “our members will be in our emergency departments looking after people … You’ll be safe in NSW”.
“If we were to move to Queensland or Victoria, we would be earning about 20 to 30 per cent more. And ultimately we are losing our best people across the border,” Dr McPherson said.
“We have the longest wait lists in the country. We have four-year wait lists for our clinics. And people are waiting for hours just to get seen for their chest pains.”
Originally published as NSW public system doctors start three-day strike
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