Bill Mason, Brisbane
Staff in the Queensland public health system have launched a campaign for a new enterprise agreement. The current agreement expired on August 31.
The Queensland Public Sector Union is holding a series of stop-work meetings to discuss progress on a new agreement. QPSU general secretary Alex Scott told the media that the members had been waiting years for some problems to be fixed, regarding "how doctors and medical professionals are employed, how their hours of work operate".
"Issues such as doctors working 24 or 48 hours straight" should be resolved immediately, he said.
As part of the campaign, 250 salaried doctors employed by Queensland Health held a stop-work meeting on September 8. They voted to support industrial action to back their log of claims for improved pay and conditions.
According to the September 9 Brisbane Courier Mail, Scott warned that unless the state Labor government did something to prevent the current exodus of staff from public hospitals, "the system will melt down by February". He added: "Junior doctors won't stay in the system after January. We can't have doctors keep on leaving the Queensland health system. We have to have salaries that are competitive with the other states ... The only time this government listens is when its work force walks off the job."
The QPSU's stop-work meetings involve various sectors of staff in public hospitals around the state. Its media campaign is calling for significant pay rises for salaried doctors and other staff. The union has rejected a Queensland Health offer of a pay rise of 4% per year.
Meanwhile, the state government appears to be close to settling a dispute with visiting medical officers (VMOs), private practitioners and specialists who work in the public hospital system. The VMOs had threatened to resign en masse from Queensland Health, but have now been offered significant pay rises.
The QPSU's enterprise agreement campaign is taking place in the context of a political crisis centred around Queensland's public hospital system, highlighted by the court-ordered closure of the Morris inquiry into the Bundaberg hospital, following accusations of malpractice by Dr Jayant Patel. Patel has been accused of being responsible for a number of deaths and serious injuries to patients.
The Morris inquiry was shut down by a Supreme Court judge because of "perceived bias" by the commissioner, Tony Morris, against senior hospital administrators. However, in response to a public outcry, especially by former Bundaberg hospital patients, Premier Peter Beattie has set up another public inquiry, headed up by Geoff Davies QC.
Morris has issued a strong statement listing serious problems in the public health system, and calling for sweeping reforms. He has condemned a "culture of concealment" in the system, called for protection of "whistleblowers", an overhaul of the funding model for hospitals to ensure that the health needs of patients are prioritised, and action to ensure genuine representation of doctors and nurses in hospital management.
From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.
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