Burnout of healthcare workers top priority, says new head of physicians’ college

The newly elected president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians has warned that pandemic-fuelled burnout in healthcare workers is a crisis demanding urgent action as the country heads into winter.

In her first interview since being appointed in May, Dr Jacqueline Small called for the wellbeing of Australia’s healthcare workers to be the top priority as the nation’s healthcare system grapples with the combination of rising flu and coronavirus cases, delayed medical care, and severe staff shortages.

Royal Australasian College of Physicians President Jacqueline Small.Credit: Janie Barrett

“Burnout has to be number one because it is immediate, it’s happening now,” the paediatrician said. “It is compromising the wellbeing of the workforce, and that affects the care that the health system can provide.

“If we don’t have a healthy workforce then how can we actually be responding to the ongoing challenges?”

Mounting healthcare worker surveys indicate the vast majority of staff are experiencing concerning levels of burnout. A wellbeing survey undertaken by the physicians’ college late last year found that 87 per cent of doctors who undertook the questionnaire were experiencing burnout.

Another Australian study, led by the Royal Melbourne Hospital, interviewed thousands of frontline healthcare workers, finding more than 70 per cent were working beyond exhaustion, with rising numbers leaving the industry or seriously pondering new careers.

“It is just phenomenal and very disturbing regarding the wellbeing of the workforce,” Small said. “We need urgent government intervention from both state and federal governments. [We need] them to step in and start taking action to alleviate the pressures on frontline staff, and put in place a better workforce plan to protect the welfare of our physicians.”

Health unions have repeatedly warned doctors and nurses are working unsustainable amounts of double shifts due to staffing shortages, leading to prolonged stress and dangerous levels of burnout.

Hospitals continue to see a rising tide of demand from sick patients, and thousands of healthcare workers are furloughed each day due to illness or coronavirus exposures.

The Age and the Herald has also been told of cases where doctors have worked a month without a day off, while other healthcare workers were told to delay their leave as there was no staff to cover for them.

The Australian College of Critical Care Nurses has also previously warned intensive care nurses were cutting back their hours and “leaving in droves.” There are thousands of advertised nursing vacancies across Australia.

Small said hospital workforce modelling must be examined to ensure enough staff were rostered for the demand. Hospitals must also ensure healthcare workers are allowed to take leave when they request it, she said.

If the situation was not addressed, she said it could result in more highly skilled, and much-needed, health workers leaving the sector.

Small’s predecessor Professor John Wilson, who was head of the college until May this year, left The Alfred hospital last month after 30 years of service, foreshadowing a mass exodus of staff due to burnout.

He cited untenable and deteriorating conditions in Victoria’s healthcare system as the reasons for his resignation, and warned conditions inside hospitals continued to put lives at risk and push healthcare workers to breaking point.

Small said the pandemic had exposed pre-existing cracks in the healthcare system and highlighted the need for reform in caring for people with complex and chronic health conditions.

Thousands of elderly Australians and people with disabilities are spending months in hospital beds while they wait for aged care beds, or support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme or mental health services.

“They need infrastructure. They need resourcing. They need models of care that support them and a recognition that this actually essentially part of the health system,” she said.

The Sydney paediatrician is also pushing for a recovery plan and the appointment of a national chief paediatrician to address the “enormous” setbacks children have endured during the pandemic.

“The true and full extent of the impacts on children is yet to be realised,” she said.

The Victorian government has allocated up to 7000 new health workers, including 5000 nurses, and $12 billion to help repair the entire system in last month’s budget. The state has also expanded its worker wellbeing centre to deliver more psychological support for healthcare workers.

A Victorian Health Department spokeswoman said more than 440 international healthcare workers have arrived in Victoria since last year to help boost the frontline workforce.

A NSW spokeswoman said the state’s local health districts have developed their own welfare support for healthcare workers experiencing stress or anxiety.

She said the support services included “consistent and regular communication with staff, monitoring staff wellbeing and providing individualised support where required”.

A federal health spokesman said a national medical workforce strategy has been developed to guide long-term medical workforce planning across Australia, which had a “strong focus on doctor wellbeing”.

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