Mr HENDERSON - 2001-07-05
Minister, in answers to questions last week seeking information regarding resignation rates of staff at Royal Darwin Hospital for the past financial year, you presented the following alarming figures: 127 out of 152 doctors resigned, the previous year only 10 out of 141 resigned; 45 out of 91 professional officers resigned last year, the previous year it was 14 out of 101; 113 out of 119 administrative staff resigned last year, the previous year it was 16 out of 205. Minister, how do you explain this enormous and growing exodus of staff from Royal Darwin Hospital, and what are you doing to stop the haemorrhage?
ANSWER
You would explain it by standing up in the committee stage of the appropriation debate and explaining why these figures have to be used with caution. I suppose one of the good things about the appropriation debate is it allows the opposition to ask a series of questions, in fact hundreds if they so choose, as opposed to this process here at ministerial Question Time where they can only get one or two questions in. So it is a debate that allows them to elaborate at some great depth, and to integrate those figures so that they can fully understand them.
I have been under the mistaken impression that the opposition member actually did understand what I was trying to tell him, but I think it is probably important to go over it again, because typically these debates occur outside of working hours, in my particular case, and sometimes people do not get to hear the figures.
It is interesting that some of the measures to advise turnover really sometimes indicate a problem that is not there. That is particularly so, for instance, in an area where there might be six staff, four of whom are stable and the other two positions are vacant, and on a contract basis we bring in GPs on a locum basis and over the course of a year we might bring in six or seven. Now, when those figures are looked at it looks like a very high turnover rate when in fact there has been stability amongst the greater proportion of the staff, and a high turnover on the basis that we have used short term contracts to make sure those positions are filled.
Can we also point out that on occasions, like the rota virus that affected Alice Springs, we beefed our staff enormously. We sought staff from a variety of agencies that were competent in providing staff and, for the purpose of that particular once-off exercise, we engage staff and they terminate at the end of it.
We are also very proud to say that there are many doctors that come to Royal Darwin and Alice Springs Hospital on a rotational basis to obtain training. In fact, I mentioned one of those cases during the committee stages of the appropriation debate, where I talked about one particular doctor who is looking to train understudies through his particular speciality on a six-monthly basis. So over the course of a year that turnover would be seemingly high but the fact is it is a good news story, because what we are trying to do is make sure that doctors get an appreciation of this place.
We are now able to do that successfully with the Flinders Medical School where, as members would know, some 10 positions are being held aside for Territory graduates to attend Flinders Medical School and obtain their degrees. Importantly, much of that training is done here in the Territory. So for the 80 or so of the cohort going through Flinders Medical School, they are doing a significant amount of training here in the Territory.
That is often enough, given the great effort the Northern Territory government has put into lifestyle, to woo people to this place. So we think that by people coming and having a look, particularly doctors, we are now able to attract them by virtue of that experience they had as a six-month rotating person through the system.
I am not saying that we are satisfied with the turnover figures. We believe that retention is a significant issue for us. We are doing an enormous amount of work, particularly with our nursing work force. We are aware that there is a shortage of something like 5000 nurses Australia wide and that there is great competition to obtain the employment of nurses throughout Australia and indeed internationally.
It is something that the Northern Territory government is addressing. We do not accept the figures as optimal and we are working on that. But I would ask commentators in this particular debate to be cautious about the statistics, because as I said in the debate on Wednesday 27 June, only last week, there is some necessity to interrogate why those figures are such.
ANSWER
You would explain it by standing up in the committee stage of the appropriation debate and explaining why these figures have to be used with caution. I suppose one of the good things about the appropriation debate is it allows the opposition to ask a series of questions, in fact hundreds if they so choose, as opposed to this process here at ministerial Question Time where they can only get one or two questions in. So it is a debate that allows them to elaborate at some great depth, and to integrate those figures so that they can fully understand them.
I have been under the mistaken impression that the opposition member actually did understand what I was trying to tell him, but I think it is probably important to go over it again, because typically these debates occur outside of working hours, in my particular case, and sometimes people do not get to hear the figures.
It is interesting that some of the measures to advise turnover really sometimes indicate a problem that is not there. That is particularly so, for instance, in an area where there might be six staff, four of whom are stable and the other two positions are vacant, and on a contract basis we bring in GPs on a locum basis and over the course of a year we might bring in six or seven. Now, when those figures are looked at it looks like a very high turnover rate when in fact there has been stability amongst the greater proportion of the staff, and a high turnover on the basis that we have used short term contracts to make sure those positions are filled.
Can we also point out that on occasions, like the rota virus that affected Alice Springs, we beefed our staff enormously. We sought staff from a variety of agencies that were competent in providing staff and, for the purpose of that particular once-off exercise, we engage staff and they terminate at the end of it.
We are also very proud to say that there are many doctors that come to Royal Darwin and Alice Springs Hospital on a rotational basis to obtain training. In fact, I mentioned one of those cases during the committee stages of the appropriation debate, where I talked about one particular doctor who is looking to train understudies through his particular speciality on a six-monthly basis. So over the course of a year that turnover would be seemingly high but the fact is it is a good news story, because what we are trying to do is make sure that doctors get an appreciation of this place.
We are now able to do that successfully with the Flinders Medical School where, as members would know, some 10 positions are being held aside for Territory graduates to attend Flinders Medical School and obtain their degrees. Importantly, much of that training is done here in the Territory. So for the 80 or so of the cohort going through Flinders Medical School, they are doing a significant amount of training here in the Territory.
That is often enough, given the great effort the Northern Territory government has put into lifestyle, to woo people to this place. So we think that by people coming and having a look, particularly doctors, we are now able to attract them by virtue of that experience they had as a six-month rotating person through the system.
I am not saying that we are satisfied with the turnover figures. We believe that retention is a significant issue for us. We are doing an enormous amount of work, particularly with our nursing work force. We are aware that there is a shortage of something like 5000 nurses Australia wide and that there is great competition to obtain the employment of nurses throughout Australia and indeed internationally.
It is something that the Northern Territory government is addressing. We do not accept the figures as optimal and we are working on that. But I would ask commentators in this particular debate to be cautious about the statistics, because as I said in the debate on Wednesday 27 June, only last week, there is some necessity to interrogate why those figures are such.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016