The New South Wales government is considering moving public psychiatry patients into private hospitals in preparation for the mass resignation of the state’s psychiatrists next week but doctors warn the panicked response will not help the “droves of people with significant illness and crises”.
At least 205 psychiatrists will resign on Tuesday after 16 months of negotiations over the workforce crisis, with the government not agreeing to the psychiatrist’s proposed solution – a special levy increasing their pay by 25%, similar to that which emergency doctors received in 2015.
