The Epoch Times By Alfred Bui
The New South Wales (NSW) Labor government will seek external help to respond to a looming mental health crisis, as more than 200 public psychiatrists prepare to quit their jobs.
On Jan. 20, NSW Mental Health Minister Rose Jackson said the state government would ask the Industrial Relations Commission to intervene in the pay rise dispute between the state and the psychiatric workforce.
This comes after 205 psychiatrists working for NSW Health said they would resign on Jan. 21 after the state government refused to meet their demand for a taxpayer-backed 25 percent salary increase after 16 months of negotiation.
They also raised concerns about the “broken” healthcare system in NSW, and challenging working conditions.
Amid the crisis, Jackson acknowledged that the psychiatrists had a compelling case.
“We recognise there are real issues with the public health psychiatry workforce,” she said.
Meanwhile, NSW Health Secretary Susan Pearce has asked administrative staff to temporarily pause the processing of psychiatrists’ resignations as the government tries to resolve the deadlock.
The new order applies to cases where psychiatrists do not have a clear resignation date on their applications.
Pearce explained that the move was to prevent an “administrative nightmare of processing” while the government verified the resignation of psychiatrists.
NSW currently has over 450 positions for psychiatrists in the public healthcare system, with around 30 percent vacant.
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