Hundreds of regional Victorian doctors walk off the job over working conditions

Hundreds of doctors at two of regional Victoria’s largest hospitals walked off the job, saying exhaustion and stressful working conditions had pushed them close to breaking point.

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The new build won’t solve the problem. It’s staffing that will solve the problems.

Doctors at Ballarat Base Hospital and Bendigo Health stopped work for four hours. Simon Judkins, president of the Australian Medical Association Victoria, said it marked the first doctors’ strike in Victoria in 20 years. The action forms part of an escalating dispute over working conditions.

The union said public hospital doctors had spent a year negotiating without receiving an offer from the Victorian government on industrial relations or an enterprise bargaining agreement. Judkins said the state had gone through three health ministers in the past 12 months without making an offer.

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Buildings can’t do surgery.

He rejected the idea that a planned redevelopment of Ballarat Base Hospital would resolve the immediate problems. The project will add an emergency department and 100 inpatient and short-stay beds, with completion due in late 2027. “The new build won’t solve the problem. It’s staffing that will solve the problems,” he said. “Buildings can’t do surgery.”

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Everything would run smoother if we had protected breaks, good shift lengths.

Doctors described long shifts, repeated night duty, fatigue and missed breaks. Junior doctor Christian McCaffrey said colleagues sometimes worked beyond their rosters and went without breaks, water or even time to use the toilet while trying to clear beds for patients waiting in emergency departments. Ballarat resident doctor Katie Lyng said protected breaks and better shift lengths would make the hospitals run more smoothly.

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My peers have to work hours beyond what they’re rostered, go days without breaks, without going to the toilet even, without having a drink of water.