NSW health minister Ryan Park says it’s not too late for Australia’s peak doctors’ union to return to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) instead of going ahead with planned strike action this week.
The Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (ASMOF) says it plans to go ahead with the planned strike between Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 April this week despite IRC orders.
Minister Park says ASMOF’s strike plans are a breach of IRC orders and will disrupt hospitals and health facilities across the state.
He says emergency departments and planned surgeries will be impacted contrary to union claims patient care will not be impacted.
The government says preparations are urgently underway to manage impacts to patients and that patients with surgeries postponed will be contacted.
Minister Park says he shares the community’s desire to see healthcare workers paid more and that the government has offered a 10.5 per cent multi-year wage increase for doctors on top of 4.5 per cent already ‘in pockets’.
The minister says the union has options and it’s ‘inexplicable ASMOF would actively choose to jeopardise patient safety over resolving its claim in the IRC’.
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