Victorian doctors could strike if negotiations over pay and conditions aren’t reached soon

Almost half of junior doctors have reported concerns about fatigue-related clinical errors, according to data from the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

The AMA claims burnt-out doctors are sometimes 14 hours into a shift when they assess a patient in emergency.

“There’s a possibility you’re prescribing a medication that’s wrong, or you’ve ordered the wrong investigations. None of us want to go through that,” AMA Victoria President Dr Simon Judkins said.

“This all comes back to patient safety and making sure our doctors have the best conditions to be able to make sure our patients are safe.”

Alongside the doctors’ union, the AMA has been locked in negotiations with the Department of Health since August for a new agreement to address unsafe rostering, heavy workloads and widespread fatigue.

Doctors are calling for the government to agree to cap shifts at a maximum of 12.5 hours and bring in limits on consecutive night shifts.

They are also asking for a 30 per cent pay rise over four years.

The current EBA is due to expire at the end of April, with doctors not ruling out going on strike as a last resort.

“It’s my expectation that every health service is managing the working conditions of their junior doctors,” Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.

“We have a range of issues for which we’ve got common purpose and we continue to negotiate in good faith.”

But Judkins said the government was still at odds with the association on several points.

“There are still things we need to come to an agreement on,” he said.

“Certainly none of us… want to go down a pathway of industrial action if we can avoid that, but clearly if we can’t find an agreement, that has to be part of our consideration.”

More medical staff could choose to leave the public system if a new EBA wasn’t reached, Judkins warned.

“The danger we have at the moment is people are dropping their hours, they’re going to part-time, they’re dropping out of the public system,” Judkins said.

“We all want a safe system that decreases that stress on our clinicians, gives them a sustainable, long-term career in our public hospital system.”

“We need to come to an agreement on those things because we want those doctors to stay in the public hospital system.”

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