Dr. John-Paul Byrne:

On the Senator's first question, because we have not engaged with hospital management as much as we would have liked, a better version of the question would be whether the doctors we spoke to have confidence in hospital management. The answer is certainly "No". They do not have confidence in feeling supported or valued by hospital management. That is a huge issue in and of itself. I have confidence in the doctors we spoke to as clinicians and their sense of professionalism. They are willing to put their work–life balance at risk just to follow through on patient care. It is something we would like to engage on further with those in hospital management. Obviously, they are a big part of the machine. It is a matter we will have to examine further.

I do not have exact numbers on the question on unions, but many of the participants we spoke to were members. They said some issues could not be raised unless there are many members in the one hospital or place. Individuals with particular issues did not feel like the support was available, although, at the same time, they felt it was valuable to be part of the union.

On our engagement with unions, we have presented to them and discussed their findings.