The ongoing doctors’ strikes in New South Wales (NSW) are a stark reminder of the growing crisis within Australia’s healthcare system. As doctors advocate for safer working conditions, their actions highlight a larger issue: a healthcare system that not only fails its workforce but ultimately endangers the very patients it is meant to serve.
This week’s industrial action, following mass resignations from the NSW psychiatry workforce, serves as a warning sign. While these strikes may seem like isolated disputes, they reflect a nationwide issue—a healthcare system under immense pressure, struggling to meet the needs of both workers and patients.
For me, the reality of this dysfunction became clear after a series of surgeries left me with 90% of my small bowel removed, relying on a feeding tube for survival. During my six months in the hospital, I didn’t just witness the breakdown of the system; I saw how it broke the people trying to hold it together.
One moment stands out vividly: a junior doctor at my bedside, her eyes red from exhaustion, struggling to stay upright after a 16-hour shift. When I asked if she was okay, she wiped away tears, her voice steady but strained. “Yes, thank you. How are your pain levels today?” she responded.
I later learned that this doctor had not eaten all day, missed her own health appointment, and was forced to work far beyond her shift. That was the moment I realised: the very system designed to heal me was actively harming her.
As I spent more time in the hospital, I overheard nurses being asked to take on double shifts, and clinicians apologising for delays they had no control over. I saw staff stretched thin, making impossible decisions under a culture that expected them to be superhuman. The strain of these conditions was palpable, and it was clear: the system was failing everyone.
Becoming a doctor in Australia requires at least a decade of education, training, and internships—often with debts exceeding $100,000 and years of delayed earning potential. The personal sacrifices doctors make cannot be measured in numbers, and yet, when they demand safer working conditions and fair pay, they are often vilified as “greedy” or “irresponsible.” This rhetoric is a diversion from the real issue, one that extends beyond NSW.
We regularly praise healthcare workers for their dedication and compassion, yet rarely do we acknowledge how the system exploits these very qualities. The empathy, commitment, and sense of duty that make these workers so valuable are used against them, pushing them beyond their limits to maintain a system built on scarcity.
That’s why the strikes in NSW should concern all of us. The wellbeing of doctors is tied directly to the quality of care they can provide. Every unfilled position, every extended shift, every symptom of burnout contributes to a system that is failing both workers and patients alike.
This issue isn’t about politics—it’s about people. It’s about recognising that a healthcare system cannot care for its patients if it doesn’t also care for its staff. We cannot expect a system built on burnout to function without consequences.
As someone who has experienced the fallout of a broken healthcare system, I want to make one thing clear: I do not want care that comes at the expense of someone else’s health. I do not want safety that is built on suffering. I do not want to be healed by someone who is being quietly broken in the process.
The strikes in NSW are not an isolated event—they are a warning. Australia’s healthcare system is facing critical workforce shortages, under-resourcing, an ageing population, and increasing demands for complex care. These issues are not going away.
I stand with the doctors and healthcare workers who are speaking up. I stand with those walking off the job not out of neglect, but because they care too much to pretend that the current system is sustainable. This is not a political stance; it’s a human one.
This isn’t about choosing sides—it’s about choosing care. And care should never come at the expense of the people who provide it。
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