Healthcare workers have expressed their fears over what may happen to NSW's emergency departments if the majority of psychiatrists do resign next week. Currently, more than 200 staff specialist psychiatrists are planning to resign, effective from next week, over disputes related to pay and working conditions.
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00:00A mental health system on the verge of collapse.
00:05There is a lot of anxiety for their patients.
00:07There's a lot of grief associated with this decision.
00:10More than 200 public psychiatrists in New South Wales
00:13are set to resign from next week
00:15after a 15-month stalemate with the state government over pay.
00:19They've allowed it to go from bad to worse,
00:22from worse to a crisis,
00:24and from now a crisis to a disaster.
00:27The state government has offered a 10.5% pay increase
00:30for hospital staff specialists over three years.
00:33Psychiatrists are calling for 25%.
00:36There will be impacts. Things might be a little bit slow.
00:39It might be a bit challenging for a few weeks.
00:42Your mental health is our top priority.
00:44We have been thinking of the patients.
00:47We've been thinking the whole time
00:49and we're worried about what's going to happen.
00:51Public psychiatrists argue they're being paid up to 30% less
00:54than some of their interstate counterparts
00:56and more needs to be done to recruit and retain staff.
00:59According to the peak body for psychiatry,
01:02only 295 of the 416 full-time staff specialist positions
01:07in New South Wales Health are filled,
01:09with more than 200 now handing in their resignation.
01:12The emergency department will relatively quickly
01:15fill up with people with mental health needs.
01:18So people with heart attacks, people with broken legs
01:21won't be able to get in.
01:24Negotiations will continue tomorrow.
01:27I don't feel as though we have exhausted dialogue.
01:30I don't feel as though the opportunity for back and forth is over.
01:34In the meantime, locums are being hired
01:36to try to keep the system functioning.