VMOs to be covered by MOCA 6

Our industrial relations partner, the Australian Salaried Medical Officers' Federation Queensland (ASMOFQ), recently achieved significant progress in its work to provide Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) coverage under the upcoming Medical Officers’ Certified Agreement  (MOCA 6).

Towards the end of last year, ASMOFQ obtained a guarantee from the previous Health Minister that Queensland Health will include VMOs under MOCA 6, together with Senior Medical Officers (SMO), Registrars and Resident Medical Officers.

ASMOFQ will continue to engage with its VMO members about what should be included in MOCA 6, and also in relation to any other issues that VMOs are experiencing in the course of their employment. 

ASMOFQ will also continue to negotiate with Queensland Health, on behalf of VMOs, for better entitlements and protections, without compromising on remuneration or flexibility.

Currently, VMOs employed by Queensland Health are engaged on individual, albeit standardised contracts. This can cause problems for our members when grievances arise because, unlike their SMO colleagues, they do not have access to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) to resolve such disputes.

As an interim measure until MOCA 6, ASMOFQ is negotiating a Health Employment Directive (HED) with Queensland Health which will provide VMOs access to the QIRC to resolve disputes.

This HED would act in addition to the standard VMO contract of employment, so VMOs would still have the option to follow the existing dispute resolution procedure, such as using a private mediator to resolve disputes, or electing to take their own legal action. 

However, ASMOFQ expects that many VMOs will benefit from the more efficient and effective dispute resolution process that is available via the QIRC, that would be provided for in this HED until such time as MOCA 6 becomes operational.

VMOs – we are paging you! 

Remember AMA Queensland’s VMO Committee has been reactivated ahead of MOCA negotiations.

Around 800 AMA Queensland members are VMOs and the committee needs to hear from as many of you as possible, from a variety of hospitals and specialties to provide a deep understanding of the issues affecting VMOs, and to establish the best negotiating platform going forward.

Connect with our committee and identify any issues you wish us to address and encourage anyone who would like to participate as a committee member to contact the secretariat at AMA Queensland Lisa O’Donnell email l.odonnell@amaq.com.au or phone (07) 3872 2222.