Spike in bullying claims for junior doctors at Brisbane hospitals
Junior doctors at Brisbane's major public hospitals are experiencing a significant spike in rates of workplace bullying and harassment, according to a new report from the Australian Medical Association Queensland.
A statewide survey of 27 per cent of junior doctors saw 44 per cent of junior doctors at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital report experiencing bullying and harassment, up 10 per cent from last year.
The AMA's Resident Hospital Health Check surveys junior doctors to provide information for their peers on workplace culture.
“The RBWH is particularly worrying with 44 per cent of junior doctors reporting they had experienced bullying or harassment, a significant increase from 10 per cent last year,” AMA Queensland's Bav Manoharan said.
“Princess Alexandra Hospital was even worse with six per cent of junior doctors reporting they had
been personally bullied in 2017 compared with 35 per cent this year.”
Seventy-five doctors at Princess Alexandra Hospital had responded to the survey.
Lady Cilento Children's, the Mater, Royal Brisbane and Women's, the Princess Alexandra and the Prince Charles hospitals all dropped grades from 2017, with Lady Cilento receiving particularly poor marks for workplace support.
More than half of junior doctors working at the children's hospital reported being told not to claim overtime.
The hospital also received poor marks for doctors' access to annual leave.
Mater Hospital only dropped a small amount in the rankings, holding high marks for workplace culture.
AMA Queensland Council of Doctors in Training executive committee member Bav Manoharan said hospital boards needed to examine the report's results.
Dr Manoharan said the AMAQ was calling for workplace guidelines to be implemented to combat the increase in bullying and harassment claims and ensure junior doctors were supported in hospitals.
Across the entire survey results, almost half of junior doctors said they were concerned fatigue and overwork would lead to clinical errors, with more than 40 per cent of respondents working up to 90 hours a fortnight.
Two-thirds of all respondents were paid all the overtime they claimed, with more than 40 per cent feeling it wasn't worth claiming.
Across the board, 28.2 per cent were advised not to claim overtime, while 30.9 per cent of junior doctors felt claiming overtime would negatively impact their assessment.
“We understand the strain that the current junior doctor shortages across public hospitals in Queensland is having on staff morale and on workloads for our doctors," Dr Manoharan said.
"We also recognise the challenges that hospitals have in maintaining appropriate provision of clinical services, whilst ensuring that vital junior doctor entitlements and training opportunities are protected."
Health Minister Steven Miles was contacted for comment.
Opposition leader Deb Frecklington said the report's statistics were "shocking".
"There should be no place for bullying in today's society in any way, shape or form," she said.
"What I would say is under the Palaszczuk government we have a health system in crisis and this is just another figure that backs that up."
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