AMA NSW DITC welcomes NSW Government's JMO Wellbeing & Support Plan
After strong advocacy from AMA NSW, the NSW Government has announced its JMO Wellbeing and Support Plan which aims to better support the health and wellbeing of the junior medical workforce and provide greater assistance to junior doctors when burnout and other mental health issues do arise.
“We are excited to say the Ministry of Health has committed to two of our proposed safe work hours provisions. From 2018 it will introduce a maximum limit on rostered shifts of 14 hours; and a mandatory 10-hour break between rostered shifts” said Dr Tessa Kennedy, AMA NSW Doctor in Training Committee Chair.
“This is a great start, but we will continue to work with the Ministry on better management of unrostered overtime and on-call demands.”
The 10-point plan for wellbeing and support includes:
- Mandatory reporting changes
- Rostering review and safe hours policies and practices
- NSW Health JMO 'Your training and wellbeing matters' survey
- JMO Recruitment Governance Unit
- Recruitment and interview processes
- Expansion of training contracts
- Parental leave policies
- Blackdog Institute partnership
- Development of local support programs
- Communicationsand education campaign
