NCAHS Refuses to Guarantee To Pay Their Bills On Time

14 August 2009

Port Macquarie Base Hospitals refusal to guarantee small businesses that they will pay their bills within 30 days has resulted in businesses closing down their accounts, Duty Member for Port Macquarie Melinda Pavey said today.

The Bels Gordon St Bakery owned by the Morrison’s said the local hospital had requested they re-open their account, which at one stage had $7,000 owing, but they refused to give them a guarantee that they would pay within 30 days.

“It comes as no surprise that local suppliers are refusing to do business with the NCAHS, as from their point of view they are dealing with a shonky unreliable business who probably wont pay them on time,” Mrs Pavey said.

“We have refused to re-open the account with the hospital as I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again, and frankly our small business simply couldn’t take it,” Mrs Morrison said.

“Ironically, the Government is currently calling on small business to keep our staff on but at the same time they are constraining our cash flow by not paying their bills on time,” Mrs Morrison said.

The NSW Labor Governments refusal to adequately fund NCAHS has resulted in bills to local suppliers going unpaid to the tune thousands of dollars.

The new Liberal/Nationals policy will ensure that all suppliers to State Government departments are paid on time, otherwise the State Government will pay interest.

“We are worried that money is being advanced from next year’s health budget which means this ongoing problem could very well continue to occur in Port Macquarie in the next financial year. The only way to fix the crisis is to change the Government,” Mrs Pavey said.

“The concerned Port people can have no confidence the problem will be soon be resolved.

“If the hospital can’t even pay small local businesses for basic supplies, how is the long awaited ‘fourth pod’ ever going to be built?

“By advancing money from next year’s budget to patch up this year’s mess, the State Government is guaranteeing this problem will continue to occur.

“People across the North Coast region may see service cutbacks next year and potentially even less patients being treated. This is simply not good enough and it just demonstrates that Labor can’t be trusted to run the health system.

“Nationals Electorate Council Chairman Leslie Williams said she is aware of many local small businesses who are carrying Government accounts and believes it is unacceptable that they should have to bear such a burden,” Mrs Pavey said.