National Press Club

18 July , 2001

Federal AMA President Dr Kerryn Phelps spoke about the attraction and retention of doctors in WA during her address to the National Press Club in Canberra.

Question

I want to pick up on your introductory theme of your tag of a militant trade unionist. In Western Australia the new Health Minister has accused doctors of turning hospitals into an industrial battleground. I just want to know your opinion on his performance in his first five months and that of the new Labor Government on health issues.

Answer (Dr Phelps)

In Western Australia we have a new Government in place, we have a new Minister, and I think they are still coming to terms with the enormity of the health portfolio and the system in that state. I think the first good thing that they did was to get rid of the Metropolitan Health Services Board, which was an extra layer of bureaucracy that the Western Australian health system did not need.

But it is important that the doctors in that state have been able to express that the public system has been allowed to run down. They are having tremendous difficulty recruiting Doctors to Western Australia, and in particular there is now a brain drain of Specialists from Western Australia who are being recruited over to Queensland. So Western Australia is not only having trouble recruiting but also having great difficulty retaining Doctors.

The Western Australian Government is going to have to bite the bullet and pay market rates for Doctors to ensure that they stay there. They might even have to pay above market rates to attract Doctors to Western Australia, particularly into the public system. But it is early days yet for the Health Minister and for the Western Australian Government.

I think the big mistake they are making at the moment is not talking to the Medical Profession. I think that is a sure recipe for disaster. If they are able to sit down and talk to the Western Australian AMA and the Medical Profession, I think they will find they will get a lot further in getting practical solutions. The AMA was told in Western Australia that, if they called off the industrial action, the Premier and the Minister would sit down and talk with them. They have called off the industrial action, and the second part of the equation has not fallen into place yet. I would encourage the Premier and the Health Minister Bob Kucera in Western Australia to do exactly that: sit down and talk to the Medical Profession.