00:00While this strike affects hospitals across New South Wales, the government says the big
00:06Sydney hospitals are where the gaps will be most notable.
00:10So places like Royal Prince Alfred, Prince of Wales, St George Hospital, also Westmead.
00:16And Westmead Hospital is where many of the doctors were striking this morning.
00:21It is about pay, but it's also about conditions.
00:24And Asimov, the doctors' union, says that some junior doctors, for example, are working
00:2870-hour weeks routinely.
00:31One of the doctors we spoke to this morning said that she's even fallen asleep at the
00:36wheel.
00:37She's so exhausted when she gets off shift.
00:40Unpaid overtime is also an issue.
00:42The doctors' union says it's only fair that obstetricians, for example, if they're called
00:47in after hours to deliver a baby, they should at least get paid for it.
00:51And then there is just the general staffing issue, not having enough people on the ground
00:56to deal with patients.
00:57One urogynecologist we spoke to said that her patients are suffering because they're
01:02waiting sometimes 12 or even 18 months just to get in to see her.
01:06So here's some of the comments from doctors rallying in Sydney today.
01:09We're trying to get better conditions for doctors because at the moment the system is
01:12crumbling apart and we're angry.
01:14It's putting patients at risk.
01:15Currently in the wards there's no kind of safety in terms of work hour limits.
01:20So that's something that we're also trying to negotiate as well.
01:23Because doctors could basically work 72 hours in a go.
01:28What it comes down to is our emotional, psychological safety.
01:32We give up, all of us, a lot of our real lives to be able to do this.
01:37And it's not just about the paid people acting like it is, but it's about our working conditions,
01:41our hours, all the things that we miss out because we don't get leave.
01:45The message to patients from the government is that emergency remains open.
01:48So if people have life-threatening illnesses, they should not delay.
01:52They should go to hospital, although there might be longer waiting times.
01:56When it comes to surgery, we know that they will be affected.
01:59Potentially hundreds or thousands of surgeries may have to be delayed as a result of this
02:04strike.
02:05And that has a cascading impact throughout the system because in New South Wales there's
02:09already more than 100,000 people waiting for surgery.
02:12Now this strike is in defiance of the Industrial Relations Commission, which ordered doctors
02:17not to go ahead with the industrial action.
02:20The union says it's been trying to work with the government to identify if there are any
02:25critical gaps in services over the coming days.
02:27They say that they'll try to fill them.
02:30But from the Premier's perspective, he says there's no doubt that patients will feel the
02:34impact of this industrial action.
02:36I can't downplay the risk.
02:39The risk is that senior doctors as well as junior doctors won't be available in the numbers
02:45that are required to ensure that people are seen quickly and that we're able to offer
02:50the kind of health care and help that residents need when they go to a big emergency department
02:58in New South Wales.
02:59Now that's regrettable.
03:00And Chris Mins did personally sit down with the doctors yesterday, but he was unable to
03:04avert the strike.
03:05And there's been no real progress in negotiations so far.
03:08So as it stands, we're looking at another two days of disruptions across public hospitals
03:14here in New South Wales.
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