AMA VICDOC Spring 2023 - Magazine - Page 28
Doctors should be aware that registration
with our website is confidential. We don’t
share the information with your employer,
we don’t even tell your employer that you
have registered, but it is an important
way for us not only to seek information
from you, but also to keep you updated
in relation to the status of the class
actions as we move forward.
HAYDEN I’ve heard from doctors worried
KATE I heard on the radio a few weeks
KATE What’s next in the Peninsula
ago, the Federal Health Minister was
speaking about how he wants this to
be sorted out as soon as possible.
proceedings Hayden?
HAYDEN Minister Mark Butler appeared
on RN and called upon state governments
to resolve these actions. He made the
point that junior doctors were an integral
part of the delivery of health, not just in
Victoria, but across Australia, and that
his genuine concern was that unless
things change, doctors will leave the
system. Having a Federal Minister
express these views is really encouraging;
it should give doctors confidence that
their complaints are validated.
KATE When there is an outcome, what’s
the compensation going to look like?
HAYDEN We’ve learnt from our client
interviews that doctors can sometimes
work anywhere between three or six 10 or sometimes 20 to 30 hours on average
per week of unrostered unpaid overtime.
If successful, we think the payments may
span anywhere between say $10,000 to
$40,000 by way of compensation. There
are some extreme examples of doctors,
particularly in surgical departments,
whose unpaid work equates to much
higher figures.
KATE I personally don’t even know
where some of my old pay slips are.
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AMA VI C TO RIA
that they no longer hold documentation.
Of course documents help but if you don’t
have them, it shouldn’t be a concern. As the
trial of Dr Bolton demonstrated, a doctor’s
evidence can be their best recollection.
The court largely accepted Gaby’s best
recollections of the overtime she performed
and awarded her damages accordingly.
HAYDEN The next important step in the
Peninsula proceeding is what’s called a
Penalties hearing. This is where ASMOF,
the union that represents junior doctors, will
be afforded the opportunity to put evidence
before the court to argue that Peninsula
Health’s breach and contraventions of the
enterprise agreement, should now mean that
they be penalised for their conduct.
KATE I had friends that have worked to
the point that their hair has fallen out
to exhaustion from stress, that they have
finished every shift and cried every
single night on the commute home.
I’ve had friends that have come in to work
on weekends to do discharge summaries
because they didn’t finish them during the
week. That’s unpaid because they said,
“I didn’t get them done, so I’ve come in
to catch up,” on their weekend. I’ve seen
many colleagues become depressed,
clinically depressed, and particularly
during their training programs where you
disappear, and you’re studying full-time,
and you’re working full-time. One of my
senior registers collapsed from exhaustion.
He hadn’t seen his children in weeks
because of how much he was working
and studying, and he lived with them.
I’ve heard one story of a surgical registrar
that stayed at work for two weeks,
didn’t leave the hospital for two weeks.
