Almost half of the junior doctors at Wagga Base Hospital have admitted they are concerned about making a clinical error due to fatigue, a new report reveals.
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The 2019 Hospital Health Check shows that 43.33 per cent of the hospital's junior doctors expressed concerns about the issue of fatigue-related clinical errors when questioned for the survey.
Overall though, the survey gave the hospital an 'A' rating after asking junior doctors for their opinions in five separate categories: overtime and rostering; access to leave; wellbeing; education and training, and morale and culture.
Wagga Base was one of just two hospitals in NSW to receive this top rating.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District, which takes in 33 hospitals including Wagga, was given a B rating.
In 2018, the survey - a joint project of the Australian Medical Association in NSW and the ASMOF doctors' union - grouped together the Wagga, Griffith and Albury hospitals and gave them a B rating.
In total in the latest survey, 80 per cent of the junior doctors at Wagga Base described their workload as "just right", with only 13.33 per cent saying it was too heavy.
However, 20 per cent of Wagga's junior doctors admitted they would "never" take sick leave when they were ill and should not be at work, while a further 30 per cent said they rarely took time off.
Half of the junior doctors described the hospital's support for their mental health and wellbeing as very good, with a further 30 per cent giving it the second-highest "good" ranking. Just 3.33 per cent chose the "poor" category.
Wagga Base work culture was described as either very good or good by 83 per cent of the junior doctors, with just 3.33 per cent dismissing it as poor.
Across NSW, 1958 doctors were surveyed - accounting for more than 20 per cent of all doctors-in-training working in the state. Thirty doctors-in-training from Wagga Base took part.
Kerry Geale, the chairperson of the Wagga Local Health Advisory Committee, said the hospital's top rating came as no surprise.
"I know the hospital has put a lot of work into junior doctors. The rating is well-deserved," Mr Geale said.
"When you talk to the junior doctors, they say it's a combination of things they like about the hospital. There are great doctors around to work with and the hospital facilities are all new.
"There's also a lot of specialists in Wagga, as well as the two medical schools. It's all coming together."
