RickInOz

Apologies for the lack of activity and updates. My life is somewhat hectic currently what with 1 full-time and 1 part-time job, learning to dive, going to the gym and trying to revise for next year’s exam. When I do have a free moment it is generally spent in “flop” mode hence neglecting this site.

A topic worth commenting and one certainly making the headlines is the recent furore over doctors’ pay conditions in South Australia. This has been receiving little attention outside the state, but it is very contentious locally.

To bring people up-to-date, doctors salaries are determined on a state, rather than national, level. This has lead to a disparity between earnings between here and the east coast states which have traditionally paid better. The original rationale for the inequality was the relative imbalance in the cost of living, with cities like Sydney being significantly more expensive than Adelaide for rent, food and other sundries. Recently house prices have risen nationally and SA is more on par with the rest of the country. Therefore doctors here have requested a rise in salary to match their better paid colleagues.

Coming to the defense of the doctors is SASMOA (SA Salaried Medical Officers Association). This is a proper union with teeth and not allied to any political party. Entirely unlike the BMA which has shamelessly sold out UK doctors by toadying up to the New Labour health reforms (or should that be deforms?), SASMOA is taking the state government on tooth and nail.

The ante has been upped on both sides. Doctors leaders say poor pay parity leads to difficulty attracting specialists to the SA public sector. Their argument is that this will endanger patients as the finest are cherry-picked by the private sector or seduced elsewhere in the country. In the absence of a meaningful resolution in negotiations with the government a general strike has been threatened.

On the other side the government say doctors are already well compensated and other states are overpaying their specialists. They have already used the classic “Won’t someone please think of the children” line in an attempt to sway public favour against any strike. The state health minister today decided to call their bluff with a bold pronouncement in the paper claiming he doesn’t believe doctors will strike.

This is dangerous territory for both sides. The doctors have much to lose in terms of public opinion and the reputation of the profession. Their position is by no means tenable, as if they strike en masse, the government could easily shore up numbers by importing foreign doctors. However the government is still playing with fire. It would be very difficult to fill 200 senior specialist posts at short notice and popular opinion can be very fickle.

I hope a reasonable compromise will be reached as this situation is at risk of getting out of control with serious consequences. It remains to be seen exactly which way this will pan out, but after witnessing the utterly apathetic response by UK doctors to the raping of their profession, it is nice to see a group who are willing to stand up for their ideals.