Port Hospital Front Line Job Cuts: Minister Gives No Guarantee

25 March 2009

The Minister for Health has failed to guarantee there will be no more jobs axed at Port Macquarie Hospital when questioned in question time, Duty MLC for Port Macquarie Melinda Pavey said today.

Mrs Pavey asked whether Mr Della Bosca would guarantee that no front line positions would be cut in addition to the eight full time staff that have already been confirmed, however his failure answer to the question suggests there may be more to come.

“The decision to cut the Aboriginal Liaison Officer position is outrageous considering the large Aboriginal population in the district,” Mrs Pavey said.
“The decision also to cut a social worker position from the Early Pregnancy Program is equally damning, considering the work load will simply be shifted to our already overworked nurses.

“As far as the nurses are concerned, these two positions require the person to have direct patient contact which means they are front line jobs.
“Nathan Rees and John Della Bosca promised in Labor’s mini-budget that they would protect frontline services, but this has proven to be a lie.

“The Labor Government owes it to the nurses and doctors of Port Macquarie to come clean and inform them of whether their positions are secure or not – this is their livelihoods they are toying with.

“Already the Government has failed in their duty when they told nurses they would inform them of their plans last Thursday, however to date they have heard nothing.

“This is no way to treat our hard working, dedicated nursing staff and they should not be axed simply due to the Governments inability to manage the states finances.

“The Minister also said that the NCAHS is now “…more closely aligned with its resource distribution formula” , confirming that the areas allocation of the RDF funding is still below what they deserve.

“The most recent figures show that the NCAHS experiences a funding shortfall of $54.5 million due to the Labor Governments failure to adhere to their own funding formula.
“The Mid North-Coast has experienced a 70 per cent population increase with the largest increase in Port Macquarie. Its about time the Government actually gives them the funding they deserve and so desperately need,” Mrs Pavey said.