Doctors reporting safety concerns on the Sunshine Coast

Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Nick Yim, ABC Radio Sunshine Coast, Breakfast with Tim Wong-See, Monday 18 November 2024

Subject: Resident Hospital Health Check

TIM WONG-SEE: According to a survey of more than 800 doctors by the Australian Medical Association Queensland, almost half the junior doctors based on the Sunshine Coast live in fear they will make an error due to fatigue and being overworked. Now, the same survey showed 32 per cent of junior doctors on the coast had concerns for their safety. It's worrying news for the Sunshine Coast University Hospital as well, dropping to C+ rating overall.

Dr Nick Yim is the President of AMA Queensland and is discussing the findings on this survey. He's here right now. Appreciate your time, Nick. Good morning.

DR NICK YIM: Good morning, Tim.

TIM WONG-SEE: Now, similar findings across the state, but the percentage of those feeling unsafe or fatigued were worse for the Sunshine Coast. So why is that?

DR NICK YIM: To recap, this is an annual survey of resident hospital doctors across the state and it's just to assess how they are progressing with regards to workplace culture, access to leave. And you're absolutely right, it is disappointing to see that a third of doctors are reporting safety concerns, especially on the Sunshine Coast. I think we would all appreciate that all doctors, all employees in the Hospital and Health Service deserve to feel safe when they are working.

TIM WONG-SEE: Is this something that you think is particular to the Sunshine Coast, or is it statewide, some of the reasons why you're getting the results that you are?

DR NICK YIM: I think this might be a statewide issue. Looking across the whole state, it is very similar from those percentages. I think to highlight, there's a few percentages on the Sunshine Coast that can be encouraging. We have seen some good news, but at the same time, we would like to see our junior doctors have the ability to access their annual leave. You mentioned earlier that half the doctors are experiencing burnout, so we know when people aren't having their holidays, all those other things, that contributes to their burnout.

TIM WONG-SEE: What are some of the other issues that have been identified here?

DR NICK YIM: Some of the other issues, obviously it's positive that we're not seeing our junior doctors working significant numbers like overtime. So, the Sunshine Coast did pretty well in that aspect, which is great. Bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment, there has been a bit of an improvement on the Sunshine Coast, which is a positive thing. This is a sign that the Hospital and Health Service is working with AMA Queensland, but I think there's still a lot of work to do. The concerning feature is the statistics have been quite stagnant over the past couple of years.

TIM WONG-SEE: This is a survey that's been run since 2017, and there's always, while we talk about some of the findings and how they can be concerning, it can inform positive change to create better environments into the future. So, seeing as it's been going for some years now, what do you see as some of those positive changes as a result of what can be concerning survey results?

DR NICK YIM: Across the survey results, some of the hospitals, they did definitely surprise us. They've actually improved quite significantly. We can definitely learn from some of those hospitals. So, what are they doing, what cultural trends are they are implementing, what programs and what strategies are they implementing? For potentially other hospitals around the state to be using those strategies.

TIM WONG-SEE: So, what are some of them?

DR NICK YIM: We do know that one hospital in Queensland, they do have a medical registrar that's part of wellbeing and they actually scored quite highly. We know that if doctors can have an access point to discuss their concerns, they're more likely to escalate that through the hospital hierarchy, which is the reason why we've highlighted that some hospitals unfortunately discouraged their junior doctors from doing this survey. And this is one of the cultural changes that we want to see change.

TIM WONG-SEE: We've had a lot of people move to Queensland in particular, and everybody needs access to functioning health services. Do you think that's had an impact as well on the results that you're seeing? More people coming through and the kind of pressures that we've seen on the health system.

DR NICK YIM: Without a doubt, the healthcare system is under pressure. You've highlighted the immigration or increased population, but at the same time, we do have workforce challenges. It's not just Queensland, it's across the whole country and the world that there is a health workforce challenge, which is the reason why AMA Queensland will be working with our Queensland Government to look at strategies to help recruit and retain. But at the same time, ensure that we are supporting our existing workforce to keep them here because we don't want them leaving to other states.

TIM WONG-SEE: Based on the 2024 findings so far, what do you foresee some of those future strategies being to act upon what you have in this year's survey results?

DR NICK YIM: I think the big one to highlight is definitely about safety at work. This is something that doesn't just apply to doctors, it applies to your nurses, allied health, your admin staff. So, if we can ensure that our employees are safe at work, they're feeling safe at work, I think that's going to increase the support and retention of those employees at the Hospital and Health Service.

TIM WONG-SEE: I appreciate your time, Nick Yim. Thanks for coming on.

DR NICK YIM: Thanks, Tim.

Contact: AMA Queensland Media:  +61 419 735 641                    media@amaq.com.au