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Workers at the South East Regional Hospital have walked off the job to demand more staff.
On Wednesday, about 45 people marched outside the hospital for a mass meeting to address chronic staff shortages, chanting “short on staff, short on care”.
The Health Services Union (HSU) organised the action. Six weeks ago its representatives had been called to the hospital because its members claimed there was not enough staff at the new $187million facility.
On Wednesday, HSU deputy manager of public health Adam Hall said the union members were demanding the vacancies at the hospital be identified and filled.
“We want to ensure this great new hospital doesn’t turn into a white elephant, as the residents of Bega deserve better,” he said.
HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes said there was a lack of funding for hospitals across the state and inadequate staffing arrangements were an endemic problem.
He said the SERH staff were dealing with the issue by absorbing the problem and becoming exhausted.
“[The SERH] looks good on the outside, but doesn’t actually work on the inside,” Mr Hayes said.
“It takes a lot for our members to threaten industrial action.
“Someone is wrong here and we are open to an independent test of who is wrong, but we’re getting details from people who on the coalface.
“I challenge the local health district to say they are funded appropriately for the services in this region; do they need more money or have they got enough?”
A recent union-led audit of staffing levels at the hospital found the following shortages:
- Health and security assistants are short three full-time staff and need a casual pool;
- Medical records are short a full-time administration officer;
- Medical imaging is short one radiographer and one sonographer. Also needs a casual pool and management will not approve a locum to fill gaps in the roster or to backfill staff on leave;
- Administration officers are short five full-time positions. The entire hospital has no ward clerks on weekends. There is no administrative support in paediatric, maternity, renal, day surgery and theatres;
- Pathology is short two technical assistants and one scientist. Technical assistants regularly have to travel to Cooma to perform work leaving Bega short of staff. Blood results are at times completed 24 hours later than expected, a recent example of this involved a leukaemia patient. Management refuse staff to work overtime to catch up on work;
- Physiotherapists require one new specialised physio for lymphedema patients;
- Cleaners have no leave relief and require a casual pool of four to five staff;
- Dieticians are short two full-time staff;
- Drug and alcohol require an additional full time staff member; and
- Mental health is short 2.27 full-time equivalent positions.
However, in a statement SNSWLHD said none of the concerns made by the HSU have ever been raised with the LHD or the SERH.
“This is despite the LHD and the HSU meeting regularly on staffing levels at all health facilities as a part of normal and ongoing workplace relations,” the statement read.
“A total of 57 additional full time (FTE) staff members are employed at South East Regional Hospital than were at the former Bega hospital. This includes 22 new nursing positions, 11 health and security attendants (HASAs) and five new doctors.”
In addition, the statement said SERH has recently completed an administration review and confirmed current staffing levels are in accordance with recommended profiles, two HASA positions have been filled, a new medical imaging staff member is set to begin work and recruitment is planned for other positions.
More to come.