A ballot of Queensland Visiting Medical Officers has found more than 91% of those who voted support an offer by the State Government for increased wages and enhanced allowances.
More than 500 Visiting Medical Officers will benefit from improved wages and conditions, with a wage increase of 3%, 2.5% and a further 2.5% over three years, plus cost-of-living adjustments.
Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Tim Nicholls welcomed the positive outcome and thanked all parties for their constructive approach to negotiations.
“Visiting medical officers make our health system stronger, by improving access to medical expertise, reducing wait times, supporting on-call rosters, and bringing specialist services into regional and metropolitan public hospitals,” Minister Nicholls said.
“This is an exciting milestone, with more than 500 doctors set to benefit from the increased wages and enhanced conditions in this agreement.
“The Crisafulli Government will continue to work in partnership with the unions to deliver improved wages and conditions for Queensland’s valued and dedicated health professionals”
These doctors will also receive a suite of other benefits, including a one-off 3% increase to professional development allowance rates, expansion of the clinical managers and medical managers allowances.
The outcome ends four months of negotiations between Queensland Health, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers’ Federation Queensland and Together Queensland, followed by a staff ballot process.
Visiting Medical Officers enhance Queensland Health’s suite of full-time medical specialist services across metropolitan and regional hospitals, providing easier access to specialist care locally and bridging critical healthcare gaps.
