Thousands of doctors at NSW public hospitals walk off the job for 3 days

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thousands of doctors in New South Wales public hospitals are walking off the job for three days of strike action, as they demand better pay and conditions. The union is calling for a 30% pay rise to achieve parity with other states and territories.

Transcript

00:00The doctors I've spoken to say they're frustrated and fed up.

00:05More than 100 doctors gathered here outside Westmead Hospital, one of the biggest trauma

00:10hospitals in the southern hemisphere.

00:12Many brought placards and chanted slogans such as safe conditions, safe care.

00:17Now some of the people that I spoke to said that they work up to 20 hours extra on top

00:22of their full-time hours, which is completely unpaid, and are missing out on key time with

00:27their children and pets.

00:29Some people also cited that their colleagues are moving interstate in search of this better

00:34pay and working conditions, and one lady even admitted to falling asleep at the wheel multiple

00:39times after working for 72 hours.

00:42We're trying to get better conditions for doctors, because at the moment the system

00:45is crumbling apart and we're angry, it's putting patients at risk.

00:48Currently in the wards there's no kind of safety in terms of work hour limits, so that's

00:53something that we're also trying to negotiate as well, because doctors could basically work

00:5872 hours in a go.

01:01What it comes down to is our emotional, psychological safety.

01:05We give up, all of us, a lot of our real lives to be able to do this, and it's not just about

01:10the paid people acting like it is, but it's about our working conditions, our hours, all

01:14the things that we miss out because we don't get leave.

01:17Yesterday the NSW government met with AMSOF, which is the doctors' union, to try and call

01:22off the strike last minute, however that was unsuccessful.

01:26And despite doctors reassuring that patients will be cared for, Premier Chris Minns disagrees.

01:31I can't downplay the risk.

01:33The risk is that senior doctors as well as junior doctors won't be available in the numbers

01:40that are required to ensure that people are seen quickly and that we're able to offer

01:45the kind of health care and help that residents need when they go to a big emergency department

01:52in NSW.

01:53Now that's regrettable.

01:55Because while elective and non-urgent surgeries have been cancelled, patients are assured

01:59that they will be cared for in urgent cases, however you are expected to wait longer if

02:04you turn up to emergency departments.

02:07Strike action will continue from 8am today until 8pm Thursday, with many of these doctors

02:12now making their way towards the city to St Leonard's, where they will continue protesting

02:17out the front of the NSW Health Ministry.

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