Doctors will strike from 1.30pm to 5.29pm, following 14 months of negotiations between the Australian Medical Association Victoria and the Victorian Government.
GV Health acting chief medical officer Dr Jeffrey Kirwan said the health service respected its medical workforce’s right to participate in lawful industrial action.
“Patient safety remains our highest priority, and emergency and critical services will continue to be maintained,” he said.
The AMA said the government had still not made a pay offer to public hospital doctors.
Key priorities for Victorian public hospital doctors include fair pay, remote recall, an end to unpaid unscheduled overtime, improved parental leave and other workplace protections.
AMA Victoria director of workplace relations Grant Forsyth said doctors had been left frustrated by the negotiations.
“They tell us we are too essential to be off work for four hours, but not essential enough to provide safe working conditions or appropriate pay to,” he said in a statement.
The AMA said its proposed industrial action was designed to send a clear message while protecting patient safety and minimising the impact on patient care.
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