Doctors look interstate for work as Victorian budget squeeze hits hard
Victorian healthcare workers are considering moving interstate for work after job losses and recruitment freezes at the state’s cash-strapped public hospitals.
Some doctors’ contracts have ended with no ongoing work offered, while others have had full-time roles converted to part-time positions, as the Victorian government’s budget crackdown forces health services to find savings.
A workforce health workforce strategy released by the Victorian government last year said 60,000 new health workers were needed between 2023 and 2026.Credit: Michel O'Sullivan
The situation undermines government efforts to recruit tens of thousands of new healthcare workers and has prompted the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and health sector unions to warn that patient care will be compromised.
“We could have circumstances where Victoria just cannot deliver highly specialised care because the experts are interstate in Sydney or overseas,” said AMA Victorian president Dr Jill Tomlinson.
Many hospitals across the state have enacted hiring freezes in response to Department of Health demands to cut spending. This means that many healthcare workers whose contracts ended on June 30 have lost jobs.
One specialist doctor, who did not want to be named because he feared it could jeopardise his employment, said he was considering moving interstate after his contract at a regional Victorian hospital was not renewed. He still works at the hospital, but said he could be let go at any point.
“When you hear about them freezing contracts even in metropolitan Melbourne, it means this state is not safe,” he said.
A surgeon, who moved to NSW from Victoria last year after his contract was not renewed at a regional hospital, said two former colleagues contacted him for advice on finding work interstate. He said their contracts recently ended due to the uncertainty gripping Victorian hospitals.
Tomlinson, a hand surgeon, said the government’s demands for huge savings from hospitals was at odds with its efforts to retain and recruit healthcare workers. “It makes absolutely no sense,” she said.
“Junior doctors who have trained for many years are now starting to look for jobs interstate or overseas. People feel gutted … it is having a highly negative impact on the morale and retention of a workforce that’s been through pretty tough times.”
The Royal Children’s Hospital has not renewed the contracts of three of its anaesthetists.Credit: John Gollings
A health workforce strategy released by Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas last year said 60,000 new health workers were needed in Victoria between 2023 and 2026.
It detailed 16 priority roles – including general practitioners, surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, midwives, emergency medicine specialists, physicians and physiotherapists – where workforce numbers needed to be boosted.
This masthead has been told that nine Victorian anaesthetists have not had their contracts renewed since the July 1 recruitment freeze came into effect: three at the Royal Children’s Hospital and six at St Vincent’s on the Park.
While the Royal Children’s Hospital has not enacted a hiring freeze, its government funding for additional catch-up planned surgeries ended on June 30. This meant the contracts of three of its anaesthetists were not renewed.
Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation president Dr Roderick McRae said many healthcare workers who were expecting their contracts to roll over on June 30 were shocked to discover they were now out of work.
“It has put their morale in the basement,” he said. “Junior medical staff have the periscope up to see what the opportunities are in other jurisdictions.”
Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas.Credit: Nine
Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association secretary Craig McGregor said health services were making full-time roles part-time and not advertising vacancies, back-filling positions and renewing fixed-term contracts.
“We are currently seeing all these tactics being employed and in all cases the delivery of healthcare is harmed,” he said.
McGregor said allied health workers left behind were particularly vulnerable to being short-staffed and overworked because there were no minimum standard for workforce numbers.
He criticised Monash Health’s decision to close its Clinical Gait Analysis Service, which employs a rehabilitation physician, orthotist and physiotherapists, and provides clinicians with detailed information to help patients with complex walking problems. Many of these patients have been affected by stroke, brain injury and multiple sclerosis. McGregor said the service’s professional specialised health roles would become redundant.
Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said Victoria’s health services should be rebuilding their workforce.
“The Allan Labor government’s funding cuts are driving doctors, nurses and paramedics interstate to secure work,” she said. Crozier, a former nurse, midwife and hospital supervisor, said the cuts were at the expense of patients.
A government spokeswoman said Labor had invested a record $20 billion into Victoria’s hospitals this year.
“Since coming to government we’ve recruited more than 32,000 healthcare workers – growing our hospital workforce by 40 per cent,” she said.
Final budgets for health services will be set in coming weeks, as hospitals and the government are still engaged in discussions.
Monash Health was contacted for comment.
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