THE Australian Medical Association (AMA) is urging doctors to expose the extent of staffing cuts in WA health services following the refusal of the State Government to divulge the numbers to be axed.
The AMA announced last week the government was planning to cut about 2,000 jobs from hospitals and medical services as part of its plans to cut the overblown health budget.
Health Minister Kim Hames responded by saying the number would be less than 2,000, but refused to say the exact amount or where the cuts would come from.
The AMA is now calling on doctors to provide information on expected cuts in their respective departments, effectively bypassing the state government’s own process.
AMA WA president Michael Gannon said the AMA deemed the process necessary to avoid the “culture of secrecy” that has developed around the state government.
“The WA Government is cutting the health budget by around $400 million a year and as a result we will see the hospital workforce be culled by up to 1,000 jobs,” he said.
“The survey currently being held by the AMA of all medical professionals in the State will help provide detail on where the job cuts are and how they will impact.
“We already know that job cuts will impact the quality of health care, despite the Minister’s claims otherwise."
Dr Gannon said it was disappointing the Government and Health Minister were attempting to keep the profession in the dark about job cuts to the sector.
“The State Government has developed a culture of secrecy that is already impacting both morale and health care,” he said.
Shadow Health Minister Roger Cook said Premier Colin Barnett and Dr Hames now had a mandate to inform WA how many jobs will go.
“This is a dysfunctional, chaotic government at its worst – the work load in our hospitals is going up, but Colin Barnett is cutting jobs,” Mr Cook said.
“Just remember, it was a few months ago when Kim Hames said Fiona Stanley Hospital was under pressure because of so much demand.
“What an insult to the hard working doctors, nurses and staff in our hospitals to say ‘we don’t need them’.”
Mr Cook accused Mr Barnett of spending millions “on monuments to himself” rather than investing in healthcare.
“We know that the South Metropolitan Health Service is 240 million dollars in the red, so we know that something needs to be done at this point,” he said.
“But it’s a result of the government’s terrible mismanagement of the health sector. We would not be in this situation if not for how Mr Barnett and Mr Hames have handled health in this state.”
Owners of Peel Health Campus, Ramsay Health Care, said as the hospital was run by a private health care operator, it was unlikely that staff cuts would affect it.
“Ramsay Health Care is fully responsible for staffing numbers at the hospital,” a spokesperson said.
