A respected anaesthetist has described his frustrations with a health system that has increasingly sidelined the wisdom of doctors in favour of measures that lead to waste and poor patient outcomes. 

Associate Professor Ross Kerridge, a long-time staff anaesthetist at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, says it is resulting in a culture of antagonism, burnout and “bizarre” inefficiencies. 

“I am confronted every day by the adverse impacts of the gulfs that have developed between clinicians and management in the NSW health system,” Professor Kerridge wrote in a submission to a state inquiry into healthcare funding. 

“These huge schisms between senior management, middle management and clinicians have led to widespread staff dissatisfaction, frustration and burnout across the health system.”