NSW public hospital doctors walk-off the job for three-day strike

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thousands of doctors across NSW public hospitals are walking of the job for three days from Tuesday overpay conditions. The union says their members are working in unsafe conditions and have been pushed to ‘breaking point’.

Transcript

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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