AMA ACT says senior doctors feel 'disrespected' and 'ignored' at Calvary acquisition

AMA ACT branch president Walter Abhayaratna said Calvary staff had felt the government had set a "terrible precedent", which was expressed at a meeting of senior doctors and other staff earlier this week.

The government has been urged by the association to undertake careful and extensive consultation with staff before processing with the acquisition.

The ACT government has planned to compulsorily acquire the Bruce public hospital on July 3, in a move the government has said will lead to a more integrated health system.

Staff were told on May 10 and legislation was introduced to the Legislative Assembly on May 11. It is expected to pass on May 31.

The association has written to Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith to say the time frame is not reasonable and have proposed a longer time frame. Professor Abhayaratna would not reveal the proposed extended time frame.

"There's a general feeling that senior medical staff have been disrespected in this whole process so far," he said.

"While the ACT government has been concentrating on the bricks and mortar, the senior doctors feel excluded from a process that should have included them."

Professor Abhayaratna, on the day after the announcement was made, said the move could help to improve governance in the system. He said having a single provider across the ACT's public hospitals was an "attractive component".

But the AMA held a meeting with about 30 medical staff on Tuesday where staff overwhelmingly expressed disappointment and anger at the situation. Professor Abhayaratna said staff at the meeting were "emotionally triggered" by the government's decision and they were "in shock and grieving".

"The overwhelming message from our town hall meeting was that senior doctors and other staff have been ignored by the ACT government and given no opportunity for consultation or to warn against the mistakes the government is making," he said.

"Many of the senior doctors who met with us have provided long and, in some cases, multi-decade service to Calvary and the residents of Canberra. They deserve to be respected but instead they were expressing their shock, dismay and anger at the ACT government's move.

"One thing was clear at the meeting - the senior doctors were angry at being disrespected and wanted to tell the ACT government that they have set a terrible precedent."

MORE CALVARY TAKEOVER NEWS:

Ms Stephen-Smith has confirmed she has received the letter and has offered to meet with the AMA.

The Health Minister has stood by the time frame for the acquisition. She said the government was unable to consult with staff prior to announcing the acquisition plans as Calvary staff did not work for the ACT government.

"Although they work for a public hospital they work for a private organisation and the government's capacity to consult them about a decision that the private organisation was inevitably very unlikely to support was really not there," she said.

"But what we want to do now is engage them in that process. We've been very clear through the process of transition we'll be bringing Calvary staff into that transition team and into that process as soon as we can."

The AMA's calls have followed an open letter from a group of senior Calvary doctors who called for the government to halt the process until there was further consultation. The letter was anonymous but The Canberra Times has confirmed its authenticity.

The doctors said they were insulted the government did not consult with them before reaching the decision to forcibly acquire the hospital.

Federal Labor member for Bean David Smith has also expressed concern at a lack of consultation.

"My concern is with change of this nature it's just critical to ensure you consult all the relevant stakeholders but particularly the workforce. We know there's been a significant impact on the workforce through COVID and what we don't want to see is further unintended consequences by a lack of certainty," he said.

Acting Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson said he believed many federal Labor members would feel the same way.

"I think there will be a lot of federal Labor members looking at what's happening in the ACT and saying they're out of control," he said.

"This is not consistent with what we are told are Labor values."

Mr Hanson also said he had received feedback that many staff at Calvary would not make the transition.

"The real concern that I am hearing from the community and from Calvary staff is that a lot of staff are not going to transition to Canberra Hospital or Canberra Health Services," he said.

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