The biggest public doctors' union last night rejected the Hospital Authority's promotion plans aimed at relieving a serious staff shortage. A group of doctors' representatives met the authority's senior management last night in what they said was an opportunity for both sides to 'test the waters' ahead of formal talks tomorrow. Dr Loletta So Kit-ying, president of the Public Doctors' Association, said the authority last night did not mention any concrete measures to improve working conditions. 'As the meeting is not a formal negotiation, we hope that the authority can come back with a more acceptable package [tomorrow],' she said. The authority is under pressure to plug the brain drain of public hospital doctors. Some frontline staff have threatened industrial action over acute staffing problems.In some hospitals, departments were operating at 10 to 20 per cent below full staffing levels because those who have vacated their jobs were not replaced. The authority plans to make 100 medical officers - with specialist qualifications and at least five full years of experience - associate consultants. This will cost HK$30 million in the coming year. 'We told the authority management that we object to this proposal because many doctors find five years is too long,' So said last night. But the authority said it would be too costly to promote the remaining 79 doctors who are still in the fifth year of specialist practice. Dr Yeung Koon-sing, a resident specialist in respiratory medicine at Tuen Mun Hospital, said earlier that he and many colleagues would quit if the authority only promoted those with five years' specialist practice. The authority's other proposals include paying a special allowance for extra night shifts, but the idea of exempting pregnant doctors from night duty was not mentioned last night. The authority has not bowed to union calls to bring in standard working hours for doctors and a fixed doctor-to-patient ratio. So said the union opposed a proposal to scale the special allowances according to a doctor's speciality. 'It will cause confusion in the workforce,' she said. The Public Doctors' Association and the Frontline Doctors' Union say they want the authority to promote about 700 doctors with specialist qualifications. But some doctors take a different view. 'Some radical members want medical officer doctors to be immediately promoted to associate consultants once they have specialist qualifications. But some don't like this idea because it will mean there will be too many senior doctors in the team, so who would do the frontline work?' one doctor said. Another doctor said that while most new specialists were keen for immediate advancement, those who had been specialists for a long time did not want promotion for all. 'Someone who's been a specialist for 10 years thinks it's unfair to be promoted together with those who have been specialists for just one or two years - this has revealed internal conflicts,' he said. Junior doctors now take on most on-site night duties while associate consultants mostly answer emergency calls outside hospitals. Doctors from internal medicine departments have complained about poor career prospects. Many are still at the medical officer grade 10 years after they become specialists. Moving up The Hospital Authority plans to promote this many medical officers to associate consultants: 100
