00:00Public hospital psychiatrists care for patients in crisis, including cases of self-harm, psychosis
00:08and paranoia, but about a third of positions remain unfilled in a system the government
00:13says is world class.
00:16The lived reality of those working in this psychiatry workforce is that at best it's
00:21mediocre and most people say it's dangerous.
00:25Mental health campaigner Sharon Grocott experienced the effects of short-staffing when her daughter
00:29Amber was admitted with schizophrenia.
00:32They had to wait more than 12 hours in emergency and then deal with a revolving door of temporary
00:37doctors or locums who are used to fill gaps.
00:41We would have a different opinion, every time we'd have to repeat our story, we'd start
00:45all over again, it was really hard to build trust.
00:49The short-staffings become so serious that half the state's public hospital psychiatrists
00:53have submitted resignations to their union and are threatening to send them to the government
00:58unless their pay matches other states, which are offering up to 30% more.
01:03It is absolutely demoralising when you can't provide the care that you are trained to provide
01:09because of how under-resourced the system is.
01:13We want to sit down and negotiate but 30% even for a relatively small number of public
01:18sector workers is more than our ability to pay.
01:21The doctors' union says a pay rise would make financial sense, arguing that competitive
01:26salaries would not only help fill scores of vacant positions, they'd save the government
01:31a fortune in locum fees.
01:33Even if patients can afford them, private hospitals rarely treat the most complex and
01:37critical cases.
01:39The public system is it, so for us that's the only port of call.
01:44And doctors say it's a system worth fighting for.
Comments