Canberra Hospital junior doctors fed up with bullying

It comes as the Australian Medical Association says the government's response to last year's review into the health system's culture has been lost in the bureaucracy of the ACT Health Directorate.

A recently released wide-ranging survey of doctors in training across Australia showed ACT's medics were the most likely in the country to face bullying and harassment.

The Canberra Times has since spoken to junior doctors who are struggling with the culture at the hospital and fear their careers will suffer.

The doctors, who asked not to be named to protect their jobs, say it's common in some departments for junior doctors to be yelled at and publicly dressed down, often driven to tears.

The poor culture is particularly apparent to those who have studied or worked interstate, they said.

They said culture within departments can vary widely, with some lucky enough to have supportive managers and good access to teaching.

But in some specialties, junior doctors have issues with their pay and struggle to have the overtime hours they have worked approved.

They say there is barely any time for teaching in some specialties, leading to low morale and low pass rates of exams.

The doctors report issues with the hierarchy of the hospital, and in claiming travel and education allowances.

"A lot of my colleagues are burnt out - they feel like they're working so hard but it's not appreciated," a doctor said.

"Many are considering leaving.

"Managers don't understand what it takes to run medical ward - they treat it as any other service industry.

"People like living in Canberra but it's so sad you have all these nice people are who are forced to consider to leave."

There is deep scepticism among many doctors that the current efforts to address bullying and poor culture are anything but a reaction to well publicised problems, instead of concern for staff wellbeing.

Australian Medical Association ACT president Antonio Di Dio said the comprehensive survey, which was an Australian-first, was consistent with the association's latest doctor surveys.

"To be frank, the results for the ACT show ongoing problems with workplace and bullying and harassment," he said.

Dr Di Dio said despite it being almost 12 months since the culture review was handed down, the most important recommendations were stuck in the bureaucracy of ACT Health.

A Canberra Health Services spokeswoman said the results of the survey were not a shock, and it continued to focus on staff wellbeing, particularly among junior medical staff.

"The timing of the medical board's training survey, which was conducted in late July to early October 2019 was only a short period after the government's response to the independent review into workplace culture within ACT public health services was tabled," she said.

"The work that we are undertaking to improve culture across the public health system will take time, and we have a three-year program of work that is being supported with a significant investment from the government as part of last year's budget. Substantial work in this area is already underway."

Opposition Health Spokeswoman Vicki Dunne said hospital staff deserved to work in a safe environment, free from threats, bullying and intimidation.

"The ACT government has not taken action against perpetrators of bullying and intimidation," she said.

"The ACT government has ignored the suffering of victims, and has tolerated and even promoted perpetrators of workplace cruelty.

"The findings of the culture review found that poor workplace culture leads to poor patient outcomes. The government's failure to take swift and meaningful action against workplace cruelty hurts both staff and patients."