Page 2095 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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Of course, the government and Canberra Health Services, as I have said, are absolutely committed to ensuring that our junior medical workforce is paid appropriately for the work they undertake in caring for patients, and we are aware that some concerns have been raised, particularly about the interface between the payroll system and the rostering system, and those issues have been acknowledged. We are committed to ensuring that all medical staff are paid their entitlements in an appropriate and timely manner under the ACT medical practitioners enterprise agreement and we are reviewing systems. Canberra Health Services and Shared Services are working with affected individuals to ensure that all pay-related issues are addressed and resolved as soon as possible.
Of course, if Mrs Dunne paid attention to some of the other things that are going on across government, she would be aware that the current payroll system is, in fact, being phased out and its replacement, the whole-of-government HRMIS, or human resources information management system, is being implemented following extensive consultation across the directorates to ensure that these issues are addressed—issues such as the interface with other systems and the ability to produce simple, easy to read payslips.
I was, in fact, the minister for government services when that went through the budget in 2018-19. Yes; there are issues and there have always historically been issues with doctors working long hours. We understand that overtime for doctors, both rostered and unrostered, is sometimes a necessary requirement for running a busy hospital safely, and managing sick patients independently in the after-hours period is an important training experience for junior doctors. We also recognise that working excessive hours does not promote a healthy lifestyle and impacts the time available for spending with family and friends and, indeed, for study.
We also know that excessive overtime can lead to fatigue, burnout and can affect mental and physical health and, indeed, patient safety. That is why CHS asks medical supervisors and clinical roster managers to keep overtime to a minimum, without compromising patient care or the training experience.
Mrs Dunne has referred to a particular matter that has been raised by junior medical officers, and it is true that on 28 June 2020 the Medical Officer Support, Credentialing, Employment and Training Unit received an email that an audit had been undertaken of some public holiday pay for 28 JMOs across six months. A portion of those were paid correctly, a portion were underpaid and a portion were overpaid. I am advised that it was about one-third, one-third, one-third, and Shared Services payroll has acknowledged it. The following day, the Medical Officer Support, Credentialing, Employment and Training Unit got in touch with Shared Services payroll and they are looking into this issue.
As I have indicated, there are some complexities around the rostering system and the existing payroll system and that is why we are investing tens of millions of dollars in a new human resources information management system, in part, to address those issues, and I can advise the Assembly that the procurement progress for HRIMS was concluded in April 2019 and the release of the first part of this major project is
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