Department heads at two of the Northern Territory's largest hospitals will be removed and forced to reapply for their jobs — a move the Australian Medical Association says will create "significant anxiety" in an already stretched health system.
It comes amid a rise in influenza and COVID-19 cases in the Northern Territory, that has exacerbated ongoing staff and bed shortages at hospitals.
On Tuesday morning, Australian Medical Association Northern Territory president Robert Parker said sources had informed him department heads would be sacked in Darwin this Thursday and Alice Springs next Thursday.
A spokeswoman for Acting Health Minister Nicole Manison confirmed a restructure "of the executive and senior leadership teams" would be occurring in Darwin and Palmerston — not Alice Springs — and were part of a plan to "revitalise" health.
"This is happening as part of NT Health's integration to build a modern, dynamic and sustainable health system", the spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for the NT Health Department said about 45 senior leadership roles would be affected by the change.
However, Dr Parker said the changes would be "a particularly poorly timed decision" in the context of increased pressure on Northern Territory hospitals.
"Along with the increased pressure from GP clinics going off bulk billing, and along with the COVID spike, we're going to have all positions vacant for [positions such as] surgery, medicine, anaesthetics, obstetrics and gynaecology — the department heads," he said.
The government has denied senior staff would be sacked through the restructure.
"No one is being sacked – we are not losing any hardworking health staff," a spokeswoman said.
"Heads of department positions will be opened to an expression of interest and all incumbents are welcome to apply."
Dr Parker said he had not heard an explanation as to why the Health Department would remove hospital department bosses.
He also said he was not aware of any precedent for such a move by the Health Department.
In a statement NT Health said divisions at the hospitals would be "restructured to make sure they are operating effectively and efficiently".
"In line with this, and in the interest of good governance, all medical division heads and heads of department positions that have been in place for five years or more across the Top End region will open for assignment through an internal expression of interest process," the statement said.
"No staff are being sacked and all staff will retain their clinical positions."
In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation (ASMOF) NT president Thomas Fowles said its council members had met with NT Health chief executive Frank Daly earlier in the day and been told that "no individual doctor would lose their job, however, they may be removed from their management position".
He said union members were disappointed with the department's "poor" communication about the plan and had asked for urgent clarification on its details, including the positions involved and the impact it could have on patient health.
"Despite Dr Daly's reassurances, we remain very concerned over today's news," Dr Fowles said.
The Country Liberal Party Opposition said the reports were "deeply concerning" and that removing senior staff could "place further stress on an already stretched health system".
"We are most concerned with the impact of this [possible] decision on the stability, capability and operational capacity of our hospitals," Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan said.
"A widespread sacking of staff that will throw hospital leadership into disarray is worrying at a time when we are in the midst of a terrible flu season, with COVID cases on the rise and when health staff are under pressure with staff shortages and added responsibilities."
'A desire to punish medical staff'
Dr Parker said he believed the Health Department planned on removing the hospital bosses in an effort to shift blame away from long-term underfunding in the Northern Territory's health system.
"These doctors who are the heads of department have been keeping the health system going for years. It's been underfunded for years," he said.
"I think it has something to do with a Health Department desire to punish the medical staff for what they perceive as a significant failure, when in actual fact it's been the medical staff, very well supported by the nursing staff and all the other staff at the hospital, who have been keeping the hospital running."
When asked what the perceived failures were, Dr Parker cited long-running issues such as pressure on hospital beds and emergency departments.
"Suddenly they've decided to blame the medical staff for this rather than looking at the funding situation where Northern Territory hospitals have been chronically underfunded for the last 15 years or so," he said.
Dr Parker said if the jobs of hospital department heads were suddenly declared vacant it would create "significant anxiety".
"It indicates a significant lack of confidence by the chief executive in that senior medical group who have basically between keeping the Northern Territory health system together," he said.
"It's a blame culture, and that then significantly impacts on the morale and confidence of the medical staff to keep going in their jobs and to lead the departments, that they've been doing so well for many years."
