Newcastle Doctor’s Facebook Post Shines Light on Struggles at the John Hunter Hospital

10 April 2025

newy.com.au – Dr Emily Roman, a staff specialist obstetrician based in Newcastle, has become one of the most prominent voices during this week’s doctors’ strike in New South Wales. Her Facebook post, written in the early hours after a sleepless night responding to emergencies, has struck a chord with exhausted health workers across the state.

In the post, Dr Roman detailed a brutal 36-hour stretch, beginning with a standard shift from 8am to 10pm. After just four hours of sleep, she was called back into the hospital between 2am and 6:30am to deal with life-threatening emergencies involving mothers and babies.

“I grabbed a coffee and arrived home as my alarm went off to wake up, got my kids ready for school and I’m due back at work at 8am,” she wrote. “There’s 80-100 women in the high risk antenatal clinic today who will expect my full attention, expertise and focus.”

Her frustration was directed at Premier Chris Minns, questioning whether he had ever done anything this important, under such conditions, while being told by the media that doctors are overstaffed and overpaid.

“If not, shut up and pay us at least as much as our colleagues living in other (lower cost of living) states,” she said.

Dr Roman’s post comes during a historic three-day strike by senior public hospital doctors, the first of its kind organised by ASMOF NSW – The Doctors Union. About 5,000 doctors across 32 hospitals have taken part, scaling back services to public holiday staffing levels. Elective surgeries, outpatient appointments, and even chemotherapy sessions have been cancelled or delayed.

The doctors are asking for a 30 per cent pay increase over time, arguing that their current salaries are well below those of their counterparts in Victoria and Queensland. They’re also calling for safer working conditions, including guaranteed rest breaks between shifts.

In Newcastle, the issue feels particularly close to home. The rally held outside John Hunter Hospital this week wasn’t just about money, it was about safety, staffing, and sustainability. Many doctors say they are burning out, some leaving the public system altogether.

Dr Roman summed up the mood in her post, calling the strike day “a chance to get some sunshine, have a nap and bask in the knowledge that you’re doing something worthy with your life, unlike Chris Minns and anyone else involved in this mess.”

Health Minister Ryan Park has responded by saying the government has already offered a 15 per cent increase (10.5 per cent over three years, plus a previous 4.5 per cent raise), and warned that the doctors’ demands would cost $11 billion. He has also criticised the union for proceeding with strike action despite a three-month pause order from the Industrial Relations Commission.

In a press conference this week, the Health Minister said the strike was having a “significant impact” on the health system, with more than 600 elective surgeries and over 4,000 outpatient appointments cancelled across NSW, including more than 400 involving oncology patients. Park said he was “deeply sorry” to patients whose treatment had been disrupted.

“I want to acknowledge that ASMOF, the doctors union, have worked with NSW Health to ensure skeleton staffing has remained in place at major hospitals,” Park said. “The system is under pressure, but it is continuing to function, especially for emergency care.”

While expressing understanding over the wage gap between NSW and other states, Park said it wasn’t feasible to correct over a decade of suppressed wages in a single year.

“We’re not pretending the gap doesn’t exist,” he said. “But to make up 12 years of wage suppression in 12 months is not possible.”

The government says it offered a 3 per cent increase with backpay to July 1 as a sign of good faith while intensive negotiations could take place. It also proposed starting talks by focusing on junior medical officers, who Park said were the lowest paid in the system.

“I’m not going to apologise for trying to help those on the lowest wages first,” Park said. “That’s where careers are built and where many of the problems around excessive hours begin.”

He also noted that 600 additional doctors had been employed in NSW compared to the same time last year and that the system retained a 95% retention rate overall — though he admitted this figure was lower in border areas facing stiff competition from interstate offers.

Park rejected claims that the government hadn’t engaged meaningfully, saying the issue had been raised at every executive health meeting and that 15 meetings had already taken place with the union before the current action.

“We’re willing to negotiate, but we can’t do it with a gun to our head,” he said, referring to the continuation of industrial action.

At the time of the press conference, the minister said the union had not indicated any intention to halt the final day of strike action.

Despite the tensions, Park said he had reopened direct lines of communication with ASMOF’s leadership and remained committed to reaching a long-term resolution.