Unsafe working hours for Australian doctors still ongoing

Doctors in Queensland will continue to work unsafe hours - with some GPs on call for 24 hours a day - until shortages in the health system can be dealt with. As the Beattie Government said it had exceeded recruitment targets by hiring 1200 health staff since the Dr Death scandal, the Queensland Medical Board was preparing a safe working hours inquiry that could exacerbate the state's doctor shortage.

Medical board executive officer Jim O'Dempsey said a discussion paper would be released within a month to guide development of working hours standards. "The Medical Board ... is developing standards of healthy work practices with the medical profession to help doctors realise that taking care of their own health is an important part of taking care of their patients," he said. A draft of the discussion paper, obtained by The Australian, shows the average number of working hours for doctors has already dropped from 46.7 hours a week to 44.4 hours in five years. However, the paper warns that if every doctor in Australia worked three fewer hours a week, Queensland would need an extra 1000 doctors to manage the same amount of work.

Queensland Public Sector Union general secretary Alex Scott said he supported a move to ensure doctors worked safe hours, but not unless there were more doctors to fill the gaps. "The fact is, doctors are not going to walk off the job. They are committed ... and if they are needed they are not going to walk away," he said. "We think a cap (on working hours) is a good idea, but it has to be resourced properly."

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said he believed any move to limit doctors' hours would not exacerbate existing workforce shortages but could help retain staff in the long term. "The responsibility (of safe hours) should be shared," he said. "There's an element of personal responsibility, but the system has to support doctors and nurses who need to manage fatigue ... In the long term, you have to be able to retain your workforce, so they don't leave you because of exhaustion."

Australian Medical Association state president Zelle Hodge noted the case of a Sunshine Coast doctor whose fatigue after working 20 hours straight was found to have contributed to the death of a young girl he had inadequately treated. "The young doctor there was asked to work long hours and when difficulties occurred, Queensland Health did not help," she said.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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