Queensland officials have defended a provocative job-ad blitz to lure NSW public-sector psychiatrists across the border as mass resignations trigger a crisis in the nation’s largest health system.
Half-page advertisements published in major Sydney newspapers on Friday targeted psychiatrists, saying that “Queensland is calling” and that the state “already pays more” than NSW.
The ads come as a pay stoush drives around two-thirds of NSW’s public hospital psychiatrists towards resignation, also prompted by what they say are widespread issues in the state’s mental health system.
Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls said the ads were run to attract the key workers to his state where they could earn around $30,000 more per year than in Labor-led NSW.
“Queensland is a top choice for healthcare professionals and we’ve obviously noticed what’s been happening down in NSW,” the LNP minister told AAP.
“We thought it was an opportune moment to let people know that pay and conditions here in Queensland are better than you’ll see in NSW.”
The ads were expected to generate a high level of interest and get people thinking about the opportunities available if they relocated, Mr Nicholls added.
Queensland could bolster its mental health workforce with NSW staff in locations including Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Whitsundays and Gold Coast, he said.
Psychiatrists in NSW have asked for a 25 per cent pay rise and have highlighted what they say are poor work conditions due to understaffing, but the Minns government says the demanded rise isn’t affordable.
NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said “psychiatry workforce shortages are a nationwide issue” when asked about the Queensland ads.
“The NSW government’s position is clear, we are asking psychiatrists to stay with us as we work towards a reasonable and fair solution,” she said.
She said on Thursday that 43 of the 200 psychiatrists who had flagged their intention to quit had already left the system and more were expected to leave in the coming days.
Locums are being recruited on higher pay rates to fill the shortages, but dozens of mental health beds across multiple hospitals have been closed due to the staffing emergency.
NSW officials have also unveiled a plan to rely on other health staff – including GPs, nurses and psychologists – in an attempt to plug the gaps.
But the peak body for doctors has raised serious concerns about the proposed “radical reform”, which it said would replace highly skilled specialists with less-trained workers.
“Psychiatrists spend 12 years in medical training to become specialists and are uniquely skilled at treating complex and debilitating acute and chronic mental health disorders,” Australian Medical Association acting NSW president Fred Betros said.
“Healthcare is a collaborative space where doctors work closely with nurses, allied health staff and social workers … (but) any suggestion psychiatrists are superfluous to a patient’s needs is derogatory and dangerous.”
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman blamed Queensland’s move to nab the public-sector talent on the stalemate in pay talks.
“It’s humiliating for Chris Minns and his mental health minister that things have become so bad on their watch that Queensland is now doing a better job talking to NSW psychiatrists than their own government,” he said.
“This is their failure, plain and simple.”
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has said Australia needs a nationally co-ordinated workforce plan to attract, train and retain a workforce of local and overseas-trained psychiatrists.
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