Mass resignation of public heath psychiatrists set to cause ‘extensive disruption’ for Northern NSW patients
Mental health professionals set to quit statewide next week over a pay dispute will cause “extensive disruptions” for northern NSW patients despite contingency plans put in place, experts say.
Regional News
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The Northern NSW Local Health District is bracing for a rude awakening next week when more than half the state’s public psychiatrists are intending to walk off the job over pay disputes.
Around 200 psychiatrists across the state plan to resign in the coming days, with the earliest effective dates from January 21.
As psychiatrists are key providers within the NSW Health system, the department wrote to the practitioners urging them to reconsider the move, this publication was told.
“For those psychiatrists who choose not to reconsider, NSW Health District will begin to process their resignations in line with our legal obligations,” a Northern NSW Local Health District spokesman said.
It comes as the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation NSW union demanded a 25 per cent base pay increase over a single year – a request which the Minns government refused.
Many public health psychiatrists earn upwards of $250,000 per year.
New government figures show the 25 per cent wage demand would cost the NSW budget $241 million for 480 positions over the forward estimates, equating to $794 million with all conditions and allowances included.
Acting Premier Penny Sharpe told News Corp the government “valued the work” of psychiatrists but “cannot afford a $90,000 pay rise” for psychiatrists and the flow on impact when every staff specialist across our health system asks for the same.
ASMOF acting executive director Ian Lisser warned that the state’s health system was about to “go off a cliff”.
Mr Lisser said the union had raised issues of staff shortages around the disruption to mental health services and warned the mass resignations could hold vulnerable people in emergency departments for days, taking up beds along with other delays.
Northern NSW Local Health District said they plan to alleviate pressure on other departments and enable the provision of care for those most in need include establishing the Mental Health Emergency Operations Centre.
“We are also engaging with the private sector to support the psychiatry workforce, and closely monitoring call capacity of the existing Mental Health Line, as well as working with Healthdirect to ensure its call centre is scaled to respond and triage appropriately,” a Northern NSW Local Health District spokesman said.
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Originally published as Mass resignation of public heath psychiatrists set to cause ‘extensive disruption’ for Northern NSW patients
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