1. Anti - Privatisation Campaign The anti-hospital privatisation campaign continued through October. Rallies and local campaign In addition to the first rally in Wyong, rallies have been held in Maitland, Goulburn, Bowral and Shellharbour. The turnout for the rallies has been encouraging, with over 1500 at Wyong and, surprisingly, over 500 at Bowral. In the week preceding each rally ASMOF industrial staff called members at each of the hospitals. There was overwhelming support for the campaign and opposition to any attempt to privatise. Unfortunately this did not translate into a large turnout from ASMOF members at the rallies. ASMOF presence was largely driven by staff. The exception was Shellharbour where seven members attended. This included Dr Sara and Dr Geoff Murray both of whom gave inspiring speeches. As we escalate the campaign we will continue to identify key contacts across the wider membership; including members who are prepared to speak publically about the issue. Trite as it may be doctors voices matter and people listen when doctors talk. We can leverage this. We held a meeting of members at Shellharbour on 3 November and there were a range of wonderful ideas coming from the 15 members who attended. This included engaging with their local communities, churches, associations and clubs; writing letters to local media and the Minister; talking to local GPs to gain their support and most importantly identifying the local stories of what privatisation will mean for the local communities. We will hold a follow up meeting at Shellharbour in the next two weeks. In all of the target areas the local media has been supportive. T Shirts For the first time in ASMOF history we have printed T Shirts. They have been very well received and provided a great visual at Shellharbour when Dr Sara and Dr Murray were speaking. Labor A significant outcome of the campaign is that the NSW Opposition Leader, Luke Foley (who attended the Shellharbour rally) has publicly committed that NSW Labor will fight the next state election on the issue of hospital privatisation. He affirmed this message when ASMOF and the other health unions met with him on Monday 7 November. He also said that if any of the hospitals are privatised then Labor will look at the available options to terminate the contracts if elected. The options would largely be governed by the terms of the contracts. Whilst the law in this area is complex there may be a range of different reasons open to a future government to end a contract prematurely, including poor service delivery by the provider. The importance of Labor raising this cannot be underestimated
as it may create degree of uncertainty and potential private providers will not like uncertainty. AMA Unfortunately the AMA has not (will not??) make a public statement opposing the planned PPPs. It appears they will buy the Government s argument that a PPP is better than nothing. Social Media We encourage all members to like and share the ASMOF page and posts. And like and share the specific campaign posts. Please get your friends/family members to do this as well. If you haven t yet signed do it now and encourage others to do. - https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/we-want-our-publichospitals-in-nsw-to-remain-public Next steps We attended a UNIONS NSW planning day for the campaign on 9 November. The discussion focused on the future goals, targets and a path to victory. It was agreed that the focus needs to be on targeting the decision makers and the influencers. This includes the Nationals, the AMA, the media shock jocks (like Alan Jones) and the potential private operators. It is also necessary to keep the pressure on the ALP. Material Fact sheet outlining the difference between AHO and PPP is attached. Key lines/facts on privatisation would be beneficial has also been attached. 2. Clinical Academic (CA) Arrangements As reported to last months Council meeting, the Ministry has, on a without prejudice basis, suggested that section 5.5 of the Clinical Academics Employed in the NSW Health Service PD, dealing with Private Practice Arrangements could be varied to retain the existing Private Practice Arrangements for Non- Proceduralists. But this is intended to capture only those Clinical Academics in Radiology and Pathology who rely on the provision of high value capital equipment/facilities and who currently are not required to pay a facility fee from billings, and who, in the view of the Ministry obtain a disproportionate benefit from the provision of infrastructure compared to Staff Specialists. Further, as reported, we ran an online survey for Clinical Academic members in October. The results? 27% of respondents indicated they currently contributed to a trust fund and paid a facility fee.
81% of respondents opposed the change proposed by the Ministry to vary the Clinical Academics PD to mandate Clinical Academics in Radiology & Pathology to contribute to a trust fund and pay a facility fee. 3. HNELHD Quality Improvement Project Leave Management Further to last month s update, the LHD recently notified ASMOF that it has commenced the rollout of the Project across the remaining LHD services. The LHD confirmed that the agreed Project Business Rules, Letter and template remain unchanged as per the initial rollout at JHH, except for the signature on the letter, headings, etc. due to different service managers being involved in the communication process at the local level. ASMOF continues monitoring the progress, including working with concerned members who have contacted ASMOF. Ongoing updates will be provided to members as the matter progresses. 4. TESL balances removed As Councillors may be aware, ASMOF was recently contacted by members across the state telling us their TESL balances had been reduced or eliminated by HealthShare, without any explanation or justification. ASMOF immediately contacted the Ministry of Health and HealthShare to resolve this issue. They advised that there is a review into the configuration of TESL, and that any leave accrued prior to 25 February 2015 has been removed, and will be returned after the review is complete. In saying that, they have not agreed that when the leave is returned there will be no adjustments made to current balances, and they have not identified the methodology of their review. Our request to have all adjustments ceased and reversed until we can resolve this matter has been ignored. As a result, we have lodged a dispute in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. The matter is listed for Monday 14 November at 11am. At the time of writing the matter had yet to be heard in the IRC and a verbal update will be provided to Council on Tuesday. 5. Pre 1997 Study & Conference Leave As reported at the October State Council Meeting, ASMOF had proposed a solution to the long standing issue access to and certainty regarding the balances of Pre 97 Study Leave. The Ministry had agreed in principle to ASMOF s proposal on a without prejudice basis, with the exception of the length of a sunset period, but indicated that they would need to circulate the proposal to the LHDs for consultation and feedback.
The Ministry has who advised that the proposed agreed process was referred to the LHDs who it was reported did not exhibit any enthusiasm for the proposal. Certainty surrounding the balances will be discussed in the Industrial Relations Commission on Monday 14th November in a dispute regarding the process adopted by HealthShare in removing current TESL balances from StaffLink, & unilaterally changing balances. It is anticipated that another meeting will be arranged in relation to the progress of this matter following the proceedings in the Commission. 6. JMO Contracts at SCHN SCHN commenced issuing letters of offers (contracts) to successful staff who are commencing employment with SCHN in the 2017 clinical year. ASMOF has raised concerns with the SCHN regarding the contracts being offered as they do not reflect the correct grade. For instance RMO1s who would be incremented to RMO 2 at the beginning of the 2017 clinical year are only being offered RMO1 grading. This appears to be the same for other JMO classifications i.e. Registrar 2 being offered Registrar 2 instead of Registrar 3. In order to try to justify this process, SCHN medical workforce advised JMOs that they don t know if the JMO will take LWOP prior to commencing in 2017 and therefore cannot determine if the JMO will meet the requisite hours in order to progress to the next level. Whilst the SCHN are correct in that the requisite hours do need to be met by the JMO, the process is inconsistent with the other LHD s practices and differs from the current custom and practice. ASMOF wrote to SCHN and requested that the contracts be reissued reflecting the grading of the position for the 2017 clinical year, suggesting they could add a caveat to the contract advising that the JMO must have met the required hours in order to progress to the higher increment so that no overpayment occurs. As a result of ASMOF s intervention, SCHN has agreed to re-issue the relevant JMO contracts to reflect the appropriate grade for 2017. SCHN stated their priority will be to re-issue new contracts to those who have yet to accept positions and then work through the new contracts for those who have already accepted positions. 7. O week engagement ASMOF industrial staff, and junior doctor members, have continued delivering presentations to final year students at the Clinical Schools and universities. The three outstanding presentations are at University of Newcastle, UNE and the University of Wollongong.
Participant responses have been very positive. However there have been a number who have said they would like to join but it s too expensive. All students have been offered the early bird rate of free membership until 15 march 2017. 140 new members have joined so far. Pre Intern (PRINT) Conference Kerrie Seymour gave a presentation at the PRINT conference on 29 October which was held at the Sydney Masonic Centre. The representation was an overview of the key elements knowing the Award (including hours, RDO s, ADO s, Meal breaks and allowances, sick leave, and annual leave). Over 350 final year students, from NSW and ACT attended. Comparisons were given between the NSW Award and the ACT Agreement. The feedback received was positive. The conference organisers have requested to build a partnership with ASMOF and have us present at next year s conference and beyond. O Week Hospitals locked in for O-Week: Monday 23 January: Hornsby, Concord, Gosford, RPA, JHH, Westmead and Orange. Tuesday 24 January: RNSH, St Vincent s, POW, Nepean and Wagga. Wednesday 25 January: Tweed, Tamworth, St George and Lismore. Friday 27 January: Wollongong, Liverpool and Bankstown. Monday 30 January: Nepean. The only hospital not to confirm a date is Blacktown, as the JMO manager resigned at short notice. They will provide a date soon. Some hospitals are yet to confirm the time. The following Council members have volunteered to speak: Alan Pham All western Sydney hospitals (if available) Amanda Laurent Orange Steven Hurwitz St George Sanjay Hettige St George Bernard Meyers Nepean Tessa Kennedy -? Tony Sara POW & St George Pesi Katrak? Matt Irwin RNSH Tony Joseph JHH Cameron Korb-Wells St Vincent s & Concord? We still need more Council members to assist in the O week presentations.
Even if this is just to circulate and talk to the interns during lunch to encourage them to join. If anyone has any contacts at Tamworth, Lismore and Tweed that would also be helpful. Now that we have a number of dates confirmed Councillors we ask that Councillors put these into their diaries. They are all lunches except for Nepean on Tuesday 24 th which is a morning tea and possibly Lismore on Wednesday 25 th (a morning tea tbc). 8. Liverpool Hospital JMO Evening Team Report Term 2 Further to last month s report. Liverpool Hospital provided a copy of the correspondence that HETI sent them following the focus visits and ASMOF s correspondence to HETI outlining our concerns. HETI advised there had been considerable improvements since the trial commenced but a number of concerns remain and the trial of the model can only continue with six conditions. These conditions are: 1. The Liverpool hospital recognises the size and complexities of the project and takes a project management approach, which should include the allocation of additional staff with appropriate skills. If the JETS project was viewed as an equivalent of an IT project, a designated project manager, change manager and part time communication/media officer as a minimum would form the project team. 2. That the negotiations that have commenced with each department regarding increasing the educational and training opportunities for the evening JETS JMO is fast tracked. That once agreement is reached this is to be communicated to the JMOs. 3. That a tool for monitoring workloads across the day and evening shifts be developed. 4. That a strategy be developed to address the inequities in workload, which may include all allocation of additional staff during periods of peak activity. 5. That a whole of hospital communication strategy be developed for the successful implementation of JETS and embedding into Liverpool hospitals culture. This requires the commitment and involvement of staff beyond the JMOs. 6. That the numbers of rostered JETS terms be limited to two per year. The correspondence is attached.
9. Multiple Assignments Further to last months report ASMOF and the Ministry are still in discussions on the draft words for a possible award variation to resolve this matter. The Ministry will not allow a variation to be retrospective. This means members that currently have more than one assignment cannot elect apportionment under the new Award provision. ASMOF is representing individual members in discussions with the Ministry to allow a one off election of apportionment. 10. Career Medical Officers Overpayments Further to last months report ASMOF has notified of a dispute and the matter is listed in the Industrial Relations Commission 29 November 2016. 11. SESLHD Billing Services Centre Team Restructure Further to last month s report the proposed structure and review of billing services does not affect members positions. Management state that the review of process, technology and systems will ensure billing services are more robust, efficient and timely and better able to provide services to members. The proposal was sent to members, but we have not received feedback. This item is on the JCC for Thursday 17 November. 12. Royal Flying Doctors Service Enterprise Agreement As previously reported, the parties met on 28 October 2016 to discuss proposed amended clauses. ASMOF and RFDS acknowledge there is further work to do to finalise these clauses, particularly as RFDS have identified the notion of a 5 day worker from a 7 day shift worker which they indicate was in the current EBA, but not particularly defined. The parties will also continue to work on what benefits are available to the different types of employees. The next meeting will be on 21 November. 13. Cashing Out Accrued Additional Annual Leave - Information Bulletin - IB2016_054 Issued on 7 November 2016. There was no prior consultation with the Union on this Bulletin. However the most significant change was to consolidate two existing bulletins, Nurses and Midwives Cashing out Additional Accrued Annual Leave [IB2011_051] and Cashing out Accrued Additional Annual Leave [IB2015_045] into one bulletin. The effect of this is that the Public Health System Nurses' and Midwives' (State) Award is one covered by the bulletin. Further to better reflect the provisions of the various Awards the following dot point has been added: Subject to the minimum requirement above, there is no limitation to the number of times per year that an employee may elect to cash out additional annual leave.
14. Lifehouse Specialists Enterprise Agreement The first bargaining meeting occurred on 10 November. It was a very brief meeting to scope out the process for bargaining. We had four members attend as bargaining delegates. Our aim was to get Lifehouse management to lay out their cards and we try not to say anything or give them any hints. Management said: They would not be making any major changes to the agreement They again flagged issues of 38 hours (vs 40 hours) perhaps trying to make members work a 38 hour week and say they get paid a better hourly rate the wage increased would not be discussed Indicated they may try to do something about TESL Will send us their draft new agreement on 25/11 He wants to hear our response on the agreement by 2/12 We will continue to engage members and to identity what they want us to achieve in a new enterprise agreement. 15. Family Planning NSW Medical Officers Enterprise Agreement Further to last month s update another meeting was held on 26 October. There are three issues that remain to be resolved. The next meeting is on 23 November. Andrew Holland Executive Director 14 November 2016