‘This was done for the cultural change’: GP makes history

For anyone who has worked as a junior doctor, Dr Amireh Fakhouri’s story will be all too familiar.
 
On shift, her days were jam-packed. She says they were more than 12-hours long, filled with life-altering decisions, stress, and almost no breaks.
 
Dr Fakhouri said her day-to-day world as a junior doctor mirrored thousands of others across Australia, and it was a life which left her feeling socially isolated and ‘exhausted all the time’.
 
‘I would get to work at around 6.00 am and then it’s just going all day until at least 6.00 pm with no proper breaks,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘We often ate our lunches while we were running between seeing patients, and it was just constant work all day.
 
‘From ward rounds, to reviewing patients, having emergencies, patients deteriorating throughout the day – it was just very, very busy, very stressful, and lots of responsibility.’
 
Now a GP in training, she decided something needed to change.
 
In 2020, Dr Fakhouri became the lead plaintiff in a class action which alleged New South Wales Health had underpaid junior doctors.
 
‘It was a very challenging decision to take up because I had a lot at stake, mainly in terms of my career and speaking up against a whole state health system,’ she said.
 
‘I gave it a lot of thought as I had left New South Wales and the public health system at the time because I was doing my GP training, and that empowered me to continue.’
 
The class action sought to claim unpaid wages for rostered overtime, unrostered overtime, meal breaks, and superannuation for those junior doctors who had worked between 16 December 2014 and 21 March 2024 in the state.  
 
And after four years of hard work, court listings, meetings with lawyers, and dedication, in March this year, a record-breaking settlement was reached, allowing around 20,000 doctors a share of almost $230 million.
 
Dr Fakhouri said although it had been a long and tiring process, she has ‘not had one negative comment about the whole process’ from her medical colleagues.
 
‘This was done for the cultural change, it’s not about the money, that’s just a bonus,’ she said.
 
‘It actually meant something to me, to all the junior doctors that I’ve worked with in the New South Wales health system, and all the junior doctors and medical students that are going to go through the system next.’
 
The settlement comes after the latest Medical Training Survey revealed 48% of all doctors in training surveyed rated their workload as ‘heavy’ or ‘very heavy’.
 
Nationwide, two thirds of doctors in training reported working more than 40 hours on average per week, and 9% worked more than 60 hours.
 
Additionally, 22% said working unrostered overtime ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’ had a negative impact on their training, and that payment for unrostered overtime occurred at least ‘most of the time’ for 68% of survey respondents.
 
For GPs specifically, the RACGP’s Health of the Nation report found that for 27% of respondents, workload, stress, and time pressures were among their top areas of concern.
 
More than 70% of GPs said they were experiencing burnout.
 
And with those alarming figures in mind, Dr Fakhouri said she hopes this settlement is just the beginning of what could be a nationwide shift.
 
‘We’ve already started seeing some changes in health, they’re very soft changes but they are changes,’ she said.
 
‘But now, it’s a common understanding that as a junior doctor, if you work, you get paid for it.
 
‘It’s still challenging for doctors to speak up and say, “I actually worked, I was here at this time and therefore should be paid”, and when doctors stand up for themselves, there can be cultural change.’
 
At this stage, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers state it is not possible to say how much group members will receive by participating in the settlement.
 
The NSW Supreme Court still needs to approve the payout, with a hearing expected later this year.
 
Anyone who believes they are eligible to join the class action can register their interest to participate in the settlement if they were employed as a junior medical officer by NSW Health at any time between 16 December 2014 and 21 March 2024 and meets additional eligibility criteria.
 
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