NCAHS: Directors of Nursing Positions to be Slashed

23 June 2009

North Coast-based Nationals Shadow Minister Melinda Pavey and Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health Jenny Gardiner said today that the NSW Labor Government’s proposal to amalgamate nurse management positions at 15 hospitals on the North Coast will place even more pressure on the already over stretched Area Health Service (AHS).

Ms Gardiner said that the planned amalgamations would mean that some of the hospitals would lose their Directors of Nursing and may occur at Grafton, Lismore, Ballina, Maclean, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Wauchope, Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Kyogle, Nimbin, Urbenville, Casino, Coraki and Bonalbo.

“The NSW Labor Government’s plan to cut Directors of Nursing is another spate of harsh front line cuts that will have serious repercussions across the entire NCAHS and reflects how Nathan Rees’ weak leadership is costing jobs,” Ms Gardiner said.

“What makes matters worse is that Nathan Rees’ plan to merge the positions at Grafton and Maclean, Tweed and Murwillumbah, Lismore and Ballina, Port Macquarie and Wauchope, Kyogle and Nimbin and Urbenville as well as Casino and Coraki and Bonalbo have occurred without adequate consultation.

“The incompetent NSW Labor Government has responded to criticism regarding the planned job cuts by stating that ‘The nurses association are being hypocritical – it has already agreed to joint management of hospitals in Campbelltown and Camden ’.

“This is absolutely absurd given that comparing the amalgamation of metropolitan hospitals to regional hospitals is like comparing apples and oranges.

“The fact that Campbelltown and Camden are only 12 km away from each other but Lismore and Ballina more than 30 km reflects how out-of -touch this Labor Government has become,” Ms Gardiner said.

Mrs Pavey said that the metropolitan hospitals already have a much higher number of managerial positions compared to rural and regional hospitals, yet the NSW Labor Government is planning to force job cuts on health services that cannot afford them.

“While there must be more productive working relationships between the district and regional hospitals, it should not come at the cost of jobs,” Mrs Pavey said.

“These planned front line cuts are as a result of 14 years of NSW Labor’s economic waste and mismanagement.

“Their failure to consult the staff and Nurses Association is due simply to wanting to speed up the process so that this money-saving exercise can be pushed through.

“In contrast, the Liberal/Nationals are committed to putting people first and have put forward a health policy in order to put NSW Health back on track,” Mrs Pavey said.