Chaos as Cape doctor quits in frustration
16.07.2003
HEALTH care in remote Cape York is in turmoil with the resignation of a key doctor and senior nursing staff about to quit.
One of only two doctors who take turns to live at the remote Kowanyama Aboriginal community on Cape York is leaving today after she was offered a package $14,000 less than she currently receives.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service also refused Dr Lara Wieland's request that she be given Sundays off work.
Yesterday Dr Wieland blamed health department bureaucracy for making her life intolerable and virtually forcing her out of the Cape.
She said other senior nursing staff were about to leave and the only two doctors interested in replacing her were from Africa and spoke very little English.
``There are lots of little problems, but nobody is interested in making this a pleasant posting,'' she said on the eve of her departure.
``I have been told that the utility that was provided to me to drive after-hours has been taken away. Along with the doctor with whom I rotate working here, I asked that we be allowed to have Sundays off so we could catch up on private things -- such as sleep . . . but that was knocked back.''
Dr Wieland has spent three years at the community -- the only one with a resident doctor on the Cape. She has taken a special interest in ``grog babies'' -- those born with fetal alcohol syndrome -- and is often asked to speak at seminars about the problem.
Yesterday she wrote of her frustration in a letter to Kowanyama community members posted on the council noticeboard.
``I want to make it known that I am not leaving because I do not want to be in Kowanyama or working for Kowanyama people,'' the letter said.
``The reasons I am leaving have more to do with the employment conditions and politics of this job and the lack of interest in making this a sustainable job.
``I hope to work here one day again, as I would like to be here when the community has the new alcohol laws and the future is looking even brighter.''
She congratulated the community for taking a stand on the alcohol issue.
Dr Wieland said the placing of a permanent doctor on Kowanyama was done six years ago as a pilot project, but Queensland Health had done nothing to extend the program to other communities, preferring to have them serviced by the Flying Doctor from Cairns.
``We cost too much because we order too many tests -- and that's because we are actually doing something for our patients,'' she said.
Dr Wieland is employed jointly by the RFDS and Queensland Health, and recently the RFDS offered to renew her contract -- with a package $14,000 less than she currently receives.
``Queensland Health have no idea of what is really needed,'' she said. ``They introduce all these new programs, but don't resource them and just end up stressing people out with the paper work.
``It's getting to the stage where just nobody will work for Queensland Health in remote places like Kowanyama.''
Health Minister Wendy Edmond last night said the RFDS had advised that every effort was being made to find a replacement.
