Big legal play in NSW psychiatrist crisis

The doctor’s union and NSW government will head into arbitration on Monday in a bid to end the state’s psychiatrist crisis.

The doctor’s union will enter mediation with the NSW government on Monday in a bid to end its wage dispute following the mass resignation of hundreds of psychiatrists earlier this year and what it calls a crisis crippling mental health services.

The Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (ASMOF) will on Monday take part in arbitration with the government at the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.

Earlier this year, more than 200 psychiatrists resigned from their jobs in the public system after calling for a 25 per cent raise to bring them in line with peers across the country, saying it had led to understaffing and staff shortages.

Beds in intensive mental health care units were left empty due to staff shortages, leaving patients to be turned away and other services picking up the pieces.

ASMOF President Dr. Nick Spooner. Picture: Supplied/YouTube.

“The people of NSW deserve a functioning mental health system, but right now, we are watching it fall apart in real time,” ASMOF President Dr. Nick Spooner said.

“The government knew this crisis was coming; psychiatrists have been warning them for years, yet they have chosen to let it spiral out of control.

“This dispute is about the understaffing of mental health services in NSW. It’s about whether patients in crisis can access the care they need.”

As part of the negotiations, the doctors’ union has called for the government to provide a 25 per cent pay increase and to urgently recruit doctors to fill hundreds of vacancies.

The doctors’ union said that the public health system had been stretched for over a decade as it struggled to retain psychiatrists.

And it says that even before the mass resignation in January, there were already 140 vacancies.

Kathryn Drew, the Director of Medical Services, Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs in the Northern NSW Local Health District, said that psychiatrists were at “breaking point”.

“Every day, I see colleagues pushed beyond their limits, trying to cover impossible workloads,” she said.

“The stress is extreme, and it’s driving good doctors out of the system.

“We’re at the point where we don’t have enough psychiatrists left to run services safely.

“That means patients in crisis wait days for treatment, if they’re lucky enough to be seen at all.

“This is not a functioning system - it’s a disaster unfolding in slow motion.”

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short.

In January, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said there were obvious differences in remuneration with other jurisdictions, but they could not afford the proposed wage increases of 25 per cent.

“It’s an issue that is now with the Industrial Relations Commission, but we simply can’t have a situation where the most vulnerable patients in our community are put at risk,” he said at the time.

“It is going to have an impact on patients. It’s going to have an impact on staff. I’m very concerned.

“I’m very concerned about the impact this could have on some of the most vulnerable patients that present to our hospitals in our emergency departments.

“I’m very concerned about the potential impact this has on other healthcare professionals across their health and hospital system.

“To say that that won’t have an impact is simply naive.”

Originally published as Big legal play in NSW psychiatrist crisis