This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Doctors are being “muzzled” when they raise concerns to public hospital management about patient safety and are being bullied to the point of leaving the public system, the head of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, has said.

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Gannon blamed the problem in part on “the rise of managerialism and bureaucracy in delivering healthcare and the fact [governments] have not invested in public hospitals”.

He said while the federal government had invested a greater share of funding in public hospitals than state and territory governments, all governments had failed to direct that funding where it was most needed.

“Budgets announce record spending on hospitals but no money goes into addressing shortfalls where they exist,” Gannon told Guardian Australia.

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“The culture of managerialism we’ve seen grow over the past 20 years is of concern to everyone. We have seen administration grow from an office to an entire hospital block. There is enormous pressure on everyone in the system including managers but the reality is this puts a lot of pressure on clinicians on the coalface.

“So when doctors raise concerns about patient care, they get muzzled. I am talking about corporate bullying, those who are silencing concerns about the care patients might be receiving, because there is such pressure on budgets and performance targets and getting patients out [of beds].”

A spokesman for the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, said states were responsible for the operation and management of hospitals and for employing doctors.

“Although Michael Gannon was calling for more hospital funding in some of his comments ... he made the point that it was the states and territories who needed to increase their funding,” the spokesman said.

The Queensland health minister Steven Miles dismissed Gannon’s claims that doctors were leaving public hospitals to work in the private system.

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“Given public hospital activity is increasing at a greater rate than private hospital activity, it seems highly unlikely that there is an exodus of public hospital doctors to the private sector,” he said.

But Gannon stood by his comments.

“This is an issue members talk about nationally and it does exist in Queensland health as it exists in other jurisdictions,” he said. “These issues haven’t happened on one minister’s watch, it is a culture that has developed over the past 20 years and partly reflects rise of managerialism and bureaucracy in delivering healthcare.”

It comes as the president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, John Batten, wrote in the College’s Building Respect, Improving Patient Safety progress report that addressing bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment in the health system was a priority.

“We know that cultural change takes time and that we are at the start of a multi-year, long-term investment in improving our workplaces and training environments,” he said.

“We must maintain our support for all our fellows, trainees, international medical graduates and partners in reporting unacceptable behaviour, standing up to unfair treatment and advocating for change.”

