Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with AMA Australian Medical Association NT President Dr Robert Parker

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Katie Woolf spoke with AMA Australian Medical Association NT President Dr Robert Parker · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Mix one O four point nine dot comtu for all
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  Speaker 1: the latest news and information. Now three sixty with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone is listening Mix one oh four point nine one hundred.
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  Speaker 2: Percent and we have been discussing the changes out at
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  Speaker 2: the Center for National Resilience and joining us on the
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  Speaker 2: line right now from the AMA, the Australian Medical Association's
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory branch, Doctor Robert Parker, Good morning, doctor Parker.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time this morning and
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  Speaker 2: thanks for staying on hold for us. Doctor. Obviously, we
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  Speaker 2: know that this announcement about the National Critical Care and
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  Speaker 2: Trauma Response Center no longer managing the international arrivals as
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  Speaker 2: we see the increase of repatriated Aussie's well from May
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  Speaker 2: I believe this year. Are you concerned about the fact
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  Speaker 2: that it seems as though the model is going to
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  Speaker 2: be changing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I suppose I have got concerns, Katie. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the National Trauma Center has actually said have a very
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  Speaker 3: high standard management and obviously they keep potentially lower rist populations,
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  Speaker 3: which are the Australian people, away from the high risk populations.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I presume they'll pass on their training and
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  Speaker 3: they'll be trainers within the new starting but mixing higher
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  Speaker 3: risk and lawyers given with the vaccine, I think is
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  Speaker 3: potentially problematic.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the concern that I you know, I'd sort
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  Speaker 2: of tried to raise a bit earlier with the Health
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  Speaker 2: Minister and she did say that, you know, they are
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  Speaker 2: going to be training the new staff that come on board,
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  Speaker 2: but then we're also talking about four hundred additional staff
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  Speaker 2: in various different roles.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to be you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, a lot of training to begin with, but it's
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  Speaker 2: also going to be quite difficult I would suspect to
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  Speaker 2: recruit that volume of staff.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's correct. The problem I think the NT government
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  Speaker 3: recruitment praises are incredibly comvassome, and when we've currently got
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  Speaker 3: knight in vacancies and mental health nurses and the problem
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  Speaker 3: is if you go through award processes and recruitments, quite
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  Speaker 3: often by the time you've gone to all the regulation
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  Speaker 3: recruit minissue, the staff has gone somewhere else and it's
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  Speaker 3: tired of waiting to be given the go ahead. So
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  Speaker 3: there's that process and then you potentially if you can't
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  Speaker 3: recruit people through award processes, then you've actually got to
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  Speaker 3: do it through local process, we can paid a very
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  Speaker 3: high lly rate and that may actually attract the number
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  Speaker 3: of staff away from the regular health system because they're
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  Speaker 3: getting a better deal with the quarantine center.
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  Speaker 2: Are we setting ourselves up to fail here, doctor Parker?
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  Speaker 3: Well, again, we've got a very limited number of local
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  Speaker 3: staff and they're already significant shortages in health services around Australia,
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  Speaker 3: particularly nursing. So having this view that we're be going
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  Speaker 3: to be able to attract the whole bunch of people,
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  Speaker 3: potentially four to five hundred staff to the quarantine facility,
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  Speaker 3: I think is quite heroic or optimistics for the best
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  Speaker 3: word of discretion.
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  Speaker 2: I agree with you, and I know that you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'd said to the Minister. Realistically, if we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: attra staff here now for the Center for National Resilience,
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  Speaker 2: but we're changing the way in which it's being run.
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  Speaker 2: My understanding from health professionals that I've spoken to is
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  Speaker 2: that it's really very attractive to work for the National
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  Speaker 2: Critical Care and Trauma Response Center because you're able to
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  Speaker 2: gain skills that maybe you wouldn't gain, you know, working
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  Speaker 2: in a hospital somewhere else. And I just wonder whether
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  Speaker 2: it's you know, whether we're sort of by changing that management,
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  Speaker 2: not only is it going to see potentially and increased risk,
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  Speaker 2: but it's also going to make it a bit harder
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  Speaker 2: to recruit people here because really what makes that center
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  Speaker 2: much difference from working at a medi hotel exactly.
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  Speaker 3: I can't really see that apart from the money, unless
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  Speaker 3: it is a really significant attraction benefit, you know, in
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  Speaker 3: terms of wages, accommodation, whatever, whatever I can to earn
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  Speaker 3: a whole bunch of money really quickly, I can't really
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  Speaker 3: see what the attraction.
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  Speaker 2: Is, doctor Parker. Do you think that this could potentially
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  Speaker 2: also have an impact on our hospitals given the fact that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the Minister has said that there may be
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  Speaker 2: some staff who choose to do a stint at the
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  Speaker 2: Center for National Resilience that are you know, full time
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  Speaker 2: based at the Royal Darwin Hospital for example. Could it
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  Speaker 2: have an impact more broadly on, you know, on our
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  Speaker 2: other facilities.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think so potentially. They said, we've got in
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  Speaker 3: mental health of the way, we've got nineteen ursing mental
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  Speaker 3: health nursing positions, you know, so we've already significantly understaffed
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  Speaker 3: in that area. I'm not sure about the rest of
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  Speaker 3: the hospital, but potentially the start for getting much better
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  Speaker 3: pay for less of work, less shift, less ours. Why
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  Speaker 3: not grab the money and run well.
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  Speaker 2: Dr Robert Parker, I always appreciate your time. It certainly
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  Speaker 2: sounds as though we have got some concerns in this space.
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  Speaker 2: I hope that that you know that it does go
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  Speaker 2: much more smoothly than what you know what potentially it could.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, I just that does seem to be that
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  Speaker 2: we're really expecting a lot and I'm just not sure
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  Speaker 2: whether we're going to be able to get there by
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  Speaker 2: may Well.
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  Speaker 3: The other concern, Katie is you know, obviously the mixing
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  Speaker 3: of two populations currently, and we've got wills with low
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  Speaker 3: risk Australian populations, we've got potentially high risk overseas populations,
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  Speaker 3: and even with the vaccine, and I've still got concerns
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  Speaker 3: about mixing those two in a quarantine situation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had wondered that because I went through the
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  Speaker 2: numbers a little bit earlier. We've had sixty seven positive
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  Speaker 2: COVID nineteen cases have been reported from those international repatriations.
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  Speaker 2: So there's no doubt that the international repatriations are bringing
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  Speaker 2: a greater risk. And like you said, then you know.
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  Speaker 2: I guess you just worry that with the changing of
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  Speaker 2: the way in which it's all being managed, that it's
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  Speaker 2: going to put the territory more broadly at a greater risk.
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  Speaker 3: That'd be my concern too, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Well, doctor Robert Parker, it's always good to speak to you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your.
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  Speaker 3: Time, my pleasure.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you. That's the AMA president for here in the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory, Doctor Robert Parker,