The Doctors’ Union — Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (ASMOF) have condemned the Minns government for attempting to silence and intimidate doctors in the lead up to this week’s 72 hour strike from Tuesday 8am to Thursday 10pm.
Dr Spooner, ASMOF President, has expressed serious concerns regarding the actions of the NSW Ministry of Health as industrial action by public hospital doctors continues, saying that the behaviour from the ministry has now reached a deeply troubling point.
According to Dr Spooner doctors across NSW have “received communications from NSW Health threatening disciplinary action and… Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency referrals for participating in industrial action” since the strike was announced.
He states that this was “a strategically timed attempt to dissuade… members from participating in the campaign…”
Dr Spooner also stated that NSW Health should immediately stop disseminating misinformation and implement the standard public holiday staffing arrangements for the three day strike. This comes after seeing NSW Health make “broad and alarming claims” about unsafe staffing over nights and public holidays, without providing the ASMOF with any evidence or detail despite formal requests.
ASMOF has also raised serious concerns regarding emails which have been deleted from NSW Health servers, making it difficult to communicate with members about union matters, including “government-raised safety concerns”.
Dr Spooner also states how the government, in “a deeply concerning development,” has attempted to have the current psychiatry arbitration proceedings “thrown out” before the Industrial Relations Commissions. He states that this attempt “sought to inflict collateral damage.”
According to Spooner, vital mental health services, such as the HIV Psychiatry Clinic at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital are shutting down due to the lack of psychiatrists left to staff them.
“Doctors have negotiated in good faith for over 18 months. The government has walked away from the table and made no genuine offer to address the problems doctors and their patients face in NSW.”
