The peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand has called for enhanced recruitment and retention of senior medical experts in South Australia to help improve working conditions across the state.
The call comes as Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) President Dr Simon Judkins and ACEM South Australia Faculty Chair Dr Thiru Govindan appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation this morning, which is looking into workplace fatigue and bullying in South Australian hospital and health services.
In its submission to the Inquiry into Workplace Fatigue and Bullying in SA Hospitals and Health Services, ACEM says its long standing guidelines to ensure the timeliness and quality of care are being ignored.
“ACEM has set minimum recommended senior medical staffing levels for emergency departments across Australia and New Zealand. Based on total number of annual presentations, the G23 framework provides a model for calculating the necessary level of senior decision makers for each shift. Under the category of senior decision maker, EDs employ FACEMs (Fellows of ACEM) as well as a variety of non-FACEMs doctors who are, for example, career medical officers with ACEM qualifications such as the Emergency Medicine Diploma,” the submission states.
“All of South Australian EDs report a significant shortfall in the current staffing levels of senior experienced clinicians.
“Inadequate staffing levels of emergency physicians and other experienced clinicians as well as junior doctors combined with overnight closure of patient assessment areas and difficulties recruiting specialists from interstate are a key contributor to patient wait times of up to 10-12 hours. Staffing EDs with locums is a costly solution that is imposing a significant burden on the health budget for the state.”
ACEM says better planning for immediate and longer term recruitment and retention of health experts, particularly at the non-FACEM senior-decision maker level, is urgently needed.
“In particular, improved staffing levels outside of business hours and across inpatient services will further reduce the prevalence of workplace fatigue and bullying, and improve the quality and safety of patient care. This may include significant changes to the current enterprise bargaining agreement to accommodate the non-specialist SDM group of medical practitioners,” ACEM says.
Download ACEM’s submission (submission 49)
Background
ACEM is the peak body for emergency medicine in Australia and New Zealand, responsible for training emergency physicians and advancement of professional standards. www.acem.org.au
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