Over the course of the last 12 months the Bunbury Doctors In Training Society (BDITS) has seen significant improvements in the moral, culture and well-being of junior doctors at Bunbury Hospital, but there is still plenty more work to be done. These improvements are in no small part due to the tremendous leadership of our former president Dr Fiona Spencer and current president Dr Elizabeth Tierney, both of whom have played an pivotal role in advocating for these positive changes seen in the last 12 months.
The commitment to the positive experience of junior doctors at Bunbury Hospital was expressed through the appointment of Sandy Calver as the Junior Doctor Coordinator. In collaboration with BDITS Sandy has develop a monthly Junior Doctor Well-being session, which though had a rocky start her perseverance has paid off. The concept combines debriefing and soft skills building exercise through structured learning sessions around topics such as navigating difficult conversations.
BDITS continues to play an important role in supporting the positive culture of the hospital especially through our various social functions including our term welcome drinks and biannual cocktail party. These events (COVID permitting) have been well attended not only by junior doctors but also senior clinicians and members of the executive team. Our International Medical Graduate Representative Dr Mohak Garg has recently introduced in conjunction with the Bunbury MEU an ‘AMC Skill-Up’ session which aims to provide support for those international medical graduates planning to sit the AMC exams.
One of the most important roles that BDITS has is the advocacy it provides for issues that arise which impact the working conditions of junior doctors. We have had success in highlighting issues around the payment of meal allowances which were not being correctly paid when doctors submitted overtime claims. BDITS Secretary Dr Shelley dos Santos did some amazing work, initially identifying the issue and working closely with Medical Workforce to ensure the correct allowances are applied going forward.
We have achieved some very positive results in a short space of time for what is a young organisation. However, I believe the AMA needs to demonstrate a greater commitment to addressing local workforce issue or provide more support to organisations such as the junior doctor societies. I was hopeful after attending an AMA meeting in Bunbury last year where the then president, Dr Andrew Milller highlighted some inadequacies of the way the AMA functioned as a union, including the lack of local sub-branches which should act as a conduit to highlight and advocate for issues at a local level. Instead, Bunbury junior doctors have been relying on their local junior doctor’s society to do much of the heavy lifting with little support from the AMA.
In summary, there has been significant improvement in the culture of Bunbury Hospital from the viewpoint of BDITS, however many of us are beginning to question the return on value for our AMA membership.