The New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission has handed down a decision finding that the state’s psychiatrists should receive a 20% pay increase.
The case comes after 200 psychiatrists threatened to resign in January, saying it was not about the money but being unable to continue working in a system causing them moral injury, knowing they were providing substandard care to their patients when one in three permanent psychiatrists positions were vacant.
The doctors union, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation (Asmof), representing the psychiatrists against NSW Health, argued the special levy was necessary to avoid the “collapse” of psychiatric care in the state.
On Friday Justice David Chin announced that a special case had been made out justifying the payment of a temporary allowance to attract and retain psychiatrists.
Chin said the psychiatrists would receive a “combined interim uplift of 20% for period of 12 months”.
He said this increase was including the 10% abnormal duties allowance psychiatrists have been paid since 3 February, and the increase would be absorbed into any increase in the general award for doctors across the state, which Asmof is still negotiating.
In response to the resignation threats the state’s mental health minister, Rose Jackson, had submitted a request to the IRC to urgently arbitrate the dispute and said the government would accept its decision.
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Hearings were supposed to take place across a single week in March but issues raised by NSW Health about expert evidence provided by the doctors’ union, and Asmof’s statewide industrial action, delayed them. They concluded in late June.
Since January 75 psychiatrists have resigned, while many put off their resignations to await the IRC decision.
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During the hearings Asmof argued that psychiatric care in NSW was facing “collapse” because of poor pay and conditions, and a special levy to fund a 25% pay rise would stem the flow of specialist doctors leaving the state’s public system.
NSW Health argued that there was no evidence that increasing psychiatrists’ pay would have any impact on attracting and retaining staff, except for stopping those who had threatened resignation pending the outcome of the arbitration, which its barrister urged the court not to consider.
