Thousands of NSW Doctors Strike Over Work Conditions Today

Thousands of doctors across New South Wales are walking off the job today, and it’s expected to seriously disrupt health services around the state. If you’ve got an appointment or surgery booked this week, it’s definitely worth double-checking with your doctor or hospital.

Some specialist appointments have already been cancelled, and hundreds of elective surgeries have been pushed back. Emergency departments and ICUs will still be running — but at public holiday staffing levels — and that’s going to last for three days, through to Thursday.

Paramedics will still be on duty, but for anything non-urgent, expect longer wait times.

Basically, if you’ve got something scheduled that’s not an emergency, brace for delays.

The doctors are striking under the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF), and their main demand is pay parity with other states — which could mean a wage bump of up to 30%. The NSW government has offered a 10% increase, but negotiations have been dragging on for more than nine months.

The union says it only heard directly from the Health Minister, Ryan Park, last week — and only after they announced the strike. “It’s a bit too little, too late,” said ASMOF’s Executive Director, Andrew Holland. “After almost a year of bargaining, it would’ve been appreciated to have someone from the office actually in the room.”

The state government, on the other hand, is warning that the strike could put patient safety at risk. “You simply can’t have thousands of doctors walk out of hospitals and not expect an impact on patient care,” said Health Minister Park.

NSW Health also says they’re unsure how many of the union’s 5,000 members are taking part, which makes it tricky to plan. About 32 hospitals could be affected.

But ASMOF is pushing back, saying patient safety will be maintained. “Our members will ensure that emergency and intensive care units are safely staffed,” Holland added.

Bottom line: If it’s an emergency, definitely still go to the hospital. But if it’s something routine or scheduled, get in touch with your provider to see if you’ve been affected.

This one could get messier before it’s resolved.