Peel Health Campus nurses have been reassured they will likely retain access to their sick leave when the hospital becomes public next year but they haven't been given a guarantee.
The Mandurah hosptial is currently operated by private company, Ramsay Health Care, but will go into public hands in August 2023 following a state government decision in December 2020.
At a press conference on Monday, Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said industrial negotiations between the government and the nurses' union were continuing.
"We want to make sure that the transition is fair and reasonable and attractive," she said.
"It's a very heated employment market. So we need those nurses, those clinical staff, those support staff - we want them to be able to come into the public system and it be attractive.
"I can't guarantee what form it will take because it'll be an industrial instrument that's negotiated with their unions.
"But the principle that they will have access (to sick leave) from day one, and that they won't have to wait to accrue, is one that we want to put in place."
Shadow health minister Libby Mettam said she had read countless emails from dedicated health workers who felt "they have become an afterthought...when it comes to their sick leave entitlements".
Canning MP Andrew Hastie said the nurses needed a guarantee "particularly at a time when our health workers are also so overworked in our struggling health system".
"Our nurses don't deserve a kick in the guts - especially not now," he said.
Ms Sanderson said returning Peel Health Campus to public hands was "a really important decision and one that the community has wanted for a very long time".
Daniela Cooper
Daniela has returned to her first love after a decade of working in local, state and federal governments, non-profits and the corporate world. She has a passion for injustice; to be a voice for those who don't have one; to hold power to account; and to bring readers the news without fear. She loves to explore new places and unfamiliar topics (both in her professional and private life) but her go-to loves are travel, health, social justice, foreign affairs and the outdoors. Email daniela.cooper@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Daniela has returned to her first love after a decade of working in local, state and federal governments, non-profits and the corporate world. She has a passion for injustice; to be a voice for those who don't have one; to hold power to account; and to bring readers the news without fear. She loves to explore new places and unfamiliar topics (both in her professional and private life) but her go-to loves are travel, health, social justice, foreign affairs and the outdoors. Email daniela.cooper@austcommunitymedia.com.au
