Im very distressed and upset to read the following front page articles and actually outraged as well. Why do governments keep targeting small country towns and regional areas do they think we dont matter. We have a right to basic quality health care surely. Please share this article with as many as you can to inform them whats happening under our noses on the news they are saying we are funding more nurse more staff for our hospitals then you read articles like this??? Who are we to believe I hope our region is not on the chopping block list. Come on people power dailyliberal.au/story/1924489/western-health-services-slashed/?cs=111 Friday November 22, 2013 Western health services slashed By HEATHER CROSBY Nov. 22, 2013, 4:30 a.m. Dubbo will not be immune from job and program cuts as the Western NSW Local Health District moves forward with a slash and burn campaign at more than 23 sites throughout the region. Dubbo will not be immune from job and program cuts as the Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) moves forward with a slash and burn campaign at more than 23 sites throughout the region. The first round of cuts started at Warren on Wednesday. Yesterday bureaucrats moved on to Baradine and Coonabarabran. Today health staff at Dunedoo will learn their fate. Nurses and Midwives Association western region organiser Darius Altman has been following in the health services wake and expects to be on the road for the next four weeks. The cuts are all being made quietly and secretly, Mr Altman said. The LHD says no jobs are being lost but the workforce is being shrunk through the removal of (working) hours from facilities. This slash and burn campaign is very, very concerning. Patient care is being compromised in a push to put money before people. Western NSW LHD northern sector general manager Joy Adams yesterday confirmed major change was occurring. The health district has embarked on a future-proofing exercise to deliver the important outcomes highlighted in its Strategic Health Services Plan 2013-2016, she said. This plan, developed in consultation with local doctors, nurses, hospital staff and the community makes plain that changes must be made to ensure hospitals across our region can continue to deliver best care for patients. Mr Altman said Dubbo, Bathurst, Orange and Bloomfield hospitals were in the firing line. We dont know what form the cuts will take but they are happening, he said. In Dubbo the medical emergency unit has already been shut. At Bathurst staff will be moved following the closure of a five medical ward beds. Multiple-purpose services and small hospital sites will undergo major change with three care hours per day on offer for high-care patients and two care hours per day for low-care patients. This decision is unbelievable and does not take into consideration the fact that two nursing staff are required to assist some patients. The care hour formula will barely allow staff time to provide the basics of getting people out of bed and wash, clothe and feed them. The elderly in aged care beds deserve better. These are people who have paid taxes their whole lives, they have contributed to society. Minister for Western NSW Kevin Humphries yesterday told the Daily Liberal change was needed to build strong foundations to continue delivering quality, timely and modern health care. In reflecting on the way they deliver care for the community, the Western NSW LHD is currently examining options to ensure its health services are sustainable in both the short and long term, he said. The health district recorded a deficit result of $19.5 million in 2012-13. This situation is due to a number of factors, including an alarming and continuing trend of increased and unfunded staffing levels and increased expenditure, health care costs continuing to grow at an unaffordable rate and services and staffing expanding their scope without funding or approval. Previously there has been no strategic planning or direction which is why the western LHD had the highest staffing rate of any rural LHD and the greatest disparity in terms of equitable staffing ratios. Much of the recalibration is allowing long term vacant positions to be filled and improving community based care. No household or small business can continue to run over budget and this is the situation the LHD finds itself in. It now must chart a way forward to deliver care that meets the needs of all patients. Mr Humphries said the NSW Government was committed to assisting and in this financial year increased the LHD budget by 3.5 per cent to a record $749.6 million. The development of the plan, which is being overseen by Western NSW LHD chief executive Scott McLachlan, is being done in conjunction with clinicians, staff, unions and the community. It is very important to note that patient care is not at risk and will not be compromised as part of the districts future-proofing exercise, voluntary redundancies are not being offered to employees involved in direct patient care and there will be no forced redundancies and staff will have the opportunity to be redeployed into other positions. I welcome the LHDs approach to transparently report back to the community on future milestones, challenges and directions.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 00:20:43 +0000
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