NSW Health’s backflip decision on redundancy offers to frontline nurses
Thursday 05 November 2009
On 21 October, Dr Gordon Moyes asked a question without notice in Parliament to the Minister for Health relating to experienced nurses in several area health services being offered redundancy packages. Making experienced nurses redundant has systemic implications for the State’s hospitals. Firstly, it worsens the workload for remaining nurses. Secondly, it ignores the long-term needs of the public health system.
Dr Gordon Moyes highlighted the fact that in the Sydney West Area Health Service (SWAHS), which includes Nepean, Westmead and Blue Mountains hospitals, are the areas most affected, with more than 500 health workers and 300 nurses wanting redundancy. In particular, 240 nurses, social workers, dental assistants, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other health workers have been offered redundancy.
Recently, a directive from the Director-General of NSW Health has put an end to the offers of voluntary redundancies to nurses in the Sydney West Area Health Service. This means that SWAHS has withdrawn offers of voluntary redundancy to frontline nurses.
Dr Gordon Moyes stated, “With more than 60,000 people waiting for elective treatment, the redundancy program indicates a further decline in the New South Wales public health system. It just doesn’t make sense to lose the most experienced nurses in a time where the public health system is in crisis. Losing our most experienced nurses should not have been considered as an option.”
Following the directive that no frontline positions were to be made redundant, the SWAHS withdrew 62 frontline clinical positions from their list. There are serious budgetary problems in several area health services, but any plan to solve these problems still has to be consistent with the clinical needs of the health system.
The Garling Report and many subsequent Federal Government report into health have provided a blueprint for the future. In all of these reports there is one constant theme: experienced nurses hold the public health system together. According to NSW Nurses Association General Secretary Brett Holmes, we are facing a demographic time bomb where many of these nurses are poised to retire and the retention of these experienced nurses is critical.
Dr Gordon Moyes added, “I welcome the NSW Health’s decision to overturn this rash and poorly thought-out policy. This program will, in the long term, worsen the Health budget and further deteriorate the State’s public hospitals. The NSW Government should retain experienced nurses and recruit younger nurses into the system.”
