Activity-based working: AMA (NSW) criticises draft policy

AMA (NSW) raised concerns with Health Minister Brad Hazzard in late September that the draft Workplace Accommodation policy and the complementary document, the NSW Government Fitout Design Principles could drive further disengagement from clinicians if adopted.

Section 3 of the Principles, under Accommodation & Fitout Principles, states: “Enclosed offices are not supported and should only be provided for a specific operational requirement (with other open plan office arrangements/configurations being fully tested first), otherwise layout is to be open plan.”

AMA (NSW) does not support mandatory open plan configuration, and contends that all activity-based working, open plan offices, hot desking, and hoteling, are inappropriate forms of office space for staff specialists, and are not in line with the entitlement to office space as stated in clause 24 of the Staff Specialists (State) Award.

Open plan office arrangements are not conducive to confidential discussions between medical professionals, or telephone conversations with patients regarding their care. The proposed office accommodation would impede consultants’ ability to provide feedback and support to doctors-in-training. The effort required to locate an empty conference room could result in lost opportunities for valuable discussion. Given the recent emphasis on doctors’ health and wellbeing – particularly for doctors-in-training – AMA (NSW) argued this policy is ill-conceived.

There are also significant disadvantages to so called “hot desking” that impact the work flow of clinicians, including difficulty finding colleagues, desk shortages, wasted time, and perceived lack of support from colleagues and supervisors.

AMA (NSW) argued this one-size fits all approach to workspace accommodation is not suited to staff specialists and urged NSW Health to consider the specific requirements of clinicians when finalising this draft Policy and Principles.