29 October 2007
ANF calls on Minister Abbott to come clean on Mersey hospital takeover
The Australian Nursing Federation, Federal Secretary, Jill Iliffe called on the Minister for Health, Tony Abbott to clarify the government’s position on the industrial relations arrangements that will apply to nursing staff at the Mersey Hospital in Tasmania after the takeover by the federal government.
Ms Iliffe said that in meetings with hospital staff and in statements to parliament Minister Abbott and the Prime Minister have sought to reassure nursing staff their current employment conditions would be maintained and they would not be forced onto Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA’s).
Ms Iliffe said this appeared to be inconsistent with ABC media reports that the Tasmanian Solicitor General has received advice that the federal government is unable to honour such commitments.
Ms Iliffe said that nursing staff at the Mersey Hospital are now fearful they may now lose their conditions of employment and called on Minister Abbott to honour his commitments or come clean to the nurses.
Ms Iliffe stated that in August 2007 the ANF wrote to Minister Abbott seeking to clarify these and other industrial issues on behalf of the nurses and have yet to receive a reply.
26 October 2007
Rural Health Action Week | 28th October-4th November 2007
The Australian Nursing Federation is supporting a campaign to highlight rural health issues.
The aim of this campaign is to highlight the disparities in health outcomes for people living in rural and remote locations in Australia and those living in metropolitan centres.
People in rural and remote areas have many health disadvantages their urban counterparts do not experience. They are more likely to have poorer health than their metropolitan counterparts. They have higher mortality rates and lower life expectancy.
They experience shortages of health care providers and services, difficulties in accessing health care and greater exposure to injury. They also experience higher hospitalisation rates for some causes of ill health.(1)
The ANF is calling on the major political parties to take steps to improve the situation for people living in rural and remote Australia and calls for a Rural Health Obligation to ensure that all rural Australians have better access to nurses, midwives, doctors, and other health professionals, as well as adequate access to local rural hospitals and health services.
During Rural Health Action Week, nurses, midwives, and other concerned community members are encouraged to raise these concerns and:
- meet with local federal candidates
Click here for the contact details of your Member of Parliament;
- ring in to local breakfast radio programs, or write letters to the editor or short opinion pieces to your local/regional/national newspapers
Click here for details of media contacts | click here for a template for a letter to the editor to get you started.
The key messages nurses, midwives, and others are encouraged to convey are:
- The need for the federal and state governments to sign up to a Rural Health Obligation to ensure all rural Australians have better access to nurses, doctors, and other health professionals, and better access to local rural hospitals and health services;
- Urgent action is required to address the chronic shortage of nurses, midwives, doctors, and other health professionals across rural Australia, and the need for a range of initiatives to get more of these health professionals to the bush;
- The pressure created on rural communities and health professionals from the relentless closure and downgrading of local rural hospitals and health services;
- The need for the next federal government to ensure that in the next round of funding agreements, through the Australian Health Care Agreements, a significantly greater amount of funding is allocated to these hospitals and health services, and is quarantined specifically for use in those settings.
References
1 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australia’s Health 2006, AIHW cat no. AUS 73, Canberra, AIHW.
26 October 2007
WorkChoices worsens gender pay gap: QIRC report
A QIRC report into the impact of WorkChoices on pay equity has found that the gender pay gap is worsening under the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation.
The report followed an Inquiry conducted in July by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission into the impact of WorkChoices on pay equity.
QCU Acting General Secretary Chris Barrett said that the difference between the earnings of men and women had remained up to 17% over the last few years and was worsening due to the Howard Government’s workplace laws.
"The QCU was concerned before these new workplace laws came into effect that women’s pay was falling behind men’s and now with the signficant loss of conditions being experienced under AWA individual contracts, the situation for women has only gotten worse.
"Women are more likely to be employed in the retail, hospitality and service sectors where workers rely on overtime pay, penalty rates and shift loadings - conditions which have been severely cut back since the introduction of WorkChoices.
Mr Barrett said that the report painted an alarming picture for working women under WorkChoices with some of the major findings being:
· improvements made by the QIRC in the undervalued work of child care workeres and dental assistants will be lost because of WorkChoices. In these cases, dental assistants won an 11% pay increase and child care workers were awarded up to $200 per week extra pay;
· The Australian Fair Pay Commission cannot be relied upon to deliver pay equity in the absence of the state and federal industrial tribunals because of its narrow economic focus;
· there is no guarantee that parental leave and carer’s leave, provisions that help reduce the gender pay gap, will be preserved under WorkChoices agreements; and
· women are particularly vulnerable in the WorkChoices system.
"Women continue to receive the raw end of the deal and are copping the full force of this WorkChoices legislation with recent reports and analysis confirming they are the hardest hit by these laws.
"The QIRC and Queensland Government are concerned about this issue and recognised the importance of it by establishing this Inquiry - we now call on John Howard and his government to respond to the findings of this report and to take the issue of gender pay equity seriously."
24 October 2007
If Flegg is so concerned about the PA Hospital, he should reprimand Howard and Abbott over the $287 million in federal funding they withheld from PA
If the Queensland Liberal Party leader, Dr Bruce Flegg, is so concerned about budget problems at the Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH), he should get on the phone to his federal colleagues, Prime Minister John Howard and Health Minister Tony Abbott, and reprimand them for holding back $287 million in federal funding for the PAH, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said there is no doubt public hospitals here in Queensland and around the country are experiencing budget pressures.
“However, a key reason is the substantial drop off in federal funding over the ten years of the Howard Government. That drop off has cost the PAH alone a massive $287 million in the last five years,” Ms Hawskworth said.
“With the Howard Government’s share of public hospital funding slipping from 45.2 per cent in 1996 to 41.4 per cent in 2006, is it any wonder many Queensland hospitals, including the PAH, are struggling and nurses are dealing with heavy workloads.
“Under the current Australian Health Care Agreement (AHCA), federal funding for Queensland public hospital services has fallen from 44 per cent in 2004 to 40 per cent in 2006. Queensland Health estimates this has cost Queensland public hospitals more than $500 million per year or more than $2.6 billion over the five-year life of the current AHCA.
“That means the Howard Government has short-changed public hospitals and health services on Brisbane’s southside by the following massive amounts over the last five years:
“On the northside the figures are even worse:
19 October 2007
ANF - Mark Olson: what are you on about??
Thank you to the large number of ANF members who have contacted us to complain about comments made by the ANF WA Branch Secretary, Mark Olson, on the ABC today.
Among other things, Mark Olson supports AWAs and contends that ‘most unions are headed for extinction’.
Many nurses, particularly those in senior management positions, are on individual contracts. These should not be confused with AWAs. Individual contracts are underpinned by conditions outlined in awards and agreements and are subject to close scrutiny. AWAs extinguish conditions outlined in awards and agreements and are secret documents.
Nurses on AWAs in aged care in the NT earn a staggering 34% less than their colleagues working in the public hospital just down the road. That is how good AWAs are for nurses.
These comments are disappointing given Mark’s previous support for the combined unions anti WorkChoices campaign.
So to all our members who have written to us outraged by Mark Olson’s statements, you can rest assured his comments do not in any way represent those of the ANF. The ANF continues to oppose WorkChoices and fight for our 150,000 members’ rights.
Photo: Mark Olson and ANF members at an anti-WorkChoices rally
Attention: Brisbane southside, Logan and Redland media outlets
19 October 2007
Howard’s tax cuts – is it any wonder hospitals are struggling
The tax cuts are not that substantial anyway – especially if WorkChoices is retained
And $13 million for clinical training at Greenslopes Private is no substitute
for the massive federal underfunding of surrounding public hospitals
The Howard Government’s promised tax cuts would be better spent on the nation’s universities and making up the Federal Government’s massive $653 million funding shortfall on health services on Brisbane’s southside, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said that would help us overcome the shortage of nurses and other health professionals and also significantly improve health services on the southside of Brisbane and at Logan, Wynnum and Redland.
“Nurses want pay and job security, better working conditions in our hospitals and aged care facilities and more nurses educated in our universities rather than a tax cut that, frankly over three to five years, is of limited value – especially if WorkChoices is retained,” Ms Hawksworth said.
“Nurses and patients are putting up with very difficult conditions in many of our hospitals and aged care facilities because of Commonwealth Government policies and they would rather have those issues seriously addressed than a pre-election bribe like the one offered by Mr Howard on Monday.
“If this is the priority of the Howard Government, at a time when its share of public hospital funding has slipped from 45.2 per cent in 1996 to 41.4 per cent in 2006, then is it any wonder many Queensland hospitals are struggling and nurses are dealing with heavy workloads.
“Under the current Australian Health Care Agreement (AHCA), federal funding for Queensland public hospital services has fallen from 44 per cent in 2004 to 40 per cent in 2006. Queensland Health estimates this has cost Queensland public hospitals more than $500 million per year or more than $2.6 billion over the five-year life of the current AHCA.
“That means the Howard Government has short-changed local public hospitals and health services by the following massive amounts over the last five years:
“Compared with these figures, the Howard Government’s commitment of $13 million for a training facility at Greenslopes Private Hospital looks very meagre indeed. While any funding for clinical training is welcome, the real question is - where is the $653 million the Howard Government owes southside public hospitals and health services?
“When you also look at the way the Howard Government has pushed more costs back onto working families, then these tax cuts have even less meaning. For example, in healthcare alone, the average out-of-pocket costs per person have ballooned since the Howard Government came to power – from $453.00 to $723.00 per person per year.
“Real expenditure by individuals on healthcare has grown by six per cent per year since the Howard Government came to office and now stands at a massive $15.4 billion per year. A lot of this increase in out-of-pocket expenditure is due to pharmaceutical cutbacks by the Howard Government,” Ms Hawksworth said.
Attention: Brisbane northside, Redcliffe and Caboolture media outlets
19 October 2007
Howard’s tax cuts – is it any wonder hospitals are struggling
The tax cuts are not that substantial anyway – especially if WorkChoices is retained
And $13 million for clinical training at Greenslopes Private is no substitute
for the massive federal underfunding of Brisbane’s public hospitals
The Howard Government’s promised tax cuts would be better spent on the nation’s universities and making up the Federal Government’s massive $692 million funding shortfall on health services on Brisbane’s northside, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said that would help us overcome the shortage of nurses and other health professionals and also significantly improve health services on the northside of Brisbane and at Redcliffe and Caboolture.
“Nurses want pay and job security, better working conditions in our hospitals and aged care facilities and more nurses educated in our universities rather than a tax cut that, frankly over three to five years, is of limited value – especially if WorkChoices is retained,” Ms Hawksworth said.
“Nurses and patients are putting up with very difficult conditions in many of our hospitals and aged care facilities because of Commonwealth Government policies and they would rather have those issues seriously addressed than a pre-election bribe like the one offered by Mr Howard on Monday.
“If this is the priority of the Howard Government, at a time when its share of public hospital funding has slipped from 45.2 per cent in 1996 to 41.4 per cent in 2006, then is it any wonder many Queensland hospitals are struggling and nurses are dealing with heavy workloads.
“Under the current Australian Health Care Agreement (AHCA), federal funding for Queensland public hospital services has fallen from 44 per cent in 2004 to 40 per cent in 2006. Queensland Health estimates this has cost Queensland public hospitals more than $500 million per year or more than $2.6 billion over the five-year life of the current AHCA.
“That means the Howard Government has short-changed local public hospitals and health services by the following massive amounts over the last five years:
“Compared with these figures, the Howard Government’s commitment of $13 million for a training facility at Greenslopes Private Hospital looks very meagre indeed. While any funding for clinical training is welcome, the real question is - where is the $692 million the Howard Government owes northside public hospitals and health services?
“When you also look at the way the Howard Government has pushed more costs back onto working families, then these tax cuts have even less meaning. For example, in healthcare alone, the average out-of-pocket costs per person have ballooned since the Howard Government came to power – from $453.00 to $723.00 per person per year.
“Real expenditure by individuals on healthcare has grown by six per cent per year since the Howard Government came to office and now stands at a massive $15.4 billion per year. A lot of this increase in out-of-pocket expenditure is due to pharmaceutical cutbacks by the Howard Government,” Ms Hawksworth said.
18 October 2007
Local nurses “do their block” for the election
Local nurses are taking the unprecedented step of hitting the streets of greater Brisbane to campaign in the upcoming federal election.
Their concern is that the quality of local health care will collapse when nurses are forced to leave their profession following cuts to pay and conditions under the Howard Government’s WorkChoices legislation.
Nurses from the Queensland Nurses’ Union will deliver anti-WorkChoices brochures to letterboxes in their local neighbourhood blocks.
QNU Secretary and Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) Senior Vice President Gay Hawksworth said it was the first time nurses and health care workers had taken to their local streets to campaign in a federal election, but the action highlighted their deep concern for patient care in the future.
“People don’t become nurses for the money, but everyone has their limit. Some private hospitals and aged care facilities have already tried to use WorkChoices to cut nurses’ pay and conditions,” Ms Hawksworth said.
“The trend in the private sector could flow into the state health care system,” she said.
“If the federal government takes over state public hospitals and WorkChoices is not abolished, then lower wages and conditions will drive nurses out. That would be a disaster for an aging population in a health system already under stress.
Ms Hawksworth said nurses had told her they were concerned that patients would suffer if WorkChoices stayed in place.
“Nurses already work such unsocial hours, and without the penalty rates, I can’t imagine many nurses would stay in the profession.
“Without experienced, professionally-paid nurses, patients will suffer, community health will suffer and the health system will crack under the strain. There is already a nurse shortage and cuts to our pay and conditions won’t help.
“Many nurses are passionate about this issue, that’s why many are taking to the streets for the first time in a federal election,” she said.
Hundreds of working nurses will distribute tens of thousands of anti-WorkChoices brochures across Queensland during the federal election campaign.
Their campaign kicks off today with a series of morning teas across Queensland, including greater Brisbane to distribute the brochures to nurses who are interested in “doing their block” by dropping the anti-WorkChoices brochures to letterboxes in their local neighbourhood.
17 October 2007
Howard’s tax cuts - is it any wonder hospitals are struggling
The tax cuts are not that substantial anyway – especially if WorkChoices is retained
The money would be better spent on education and better health services
The Howard Government’s promised tax cuts would be better spent making up the Federal Government’s massive funding shortfall on the nation’s hospitals and universities so we can improve health services and overcome the shortage of nurses and other health professionals, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said nurses want pay and job security, better working conditions in our hospitals and aged care facilities and more nurses educated in our universities rather than a tax cut that, frankly over three to five years, is of limited value – especially if WorkChoices is retained.
“Nurses and patients are putting up with very difficult conditions in many of our hospitals and aged care facilities because of Commonwealth Government policies and they would rather have those issues seriously addressed than a pre-election bribe like the one offered by Mr Howard on Monday,” Ms Hawksworth said.
“If this is the priority of the Howard Government, at a time when its share of public hospital funding has slipped from 45.2 per cent in 1996 to 41.4 per cent in 2006, then is it any wonder many Queensland hospitals are struggling and nurses are dealing with heavy workloads.
“Under the current Australian Health Care Agreement (AHCA), federal funding for Queensland public hospital services has fallen from 44 per cent in 2004 to 40 per cent in 2006. Queensland Health estimates this has cost Queensland public hospitals more than $500 million per year or more than $2.6 billion over the five-year life of the current AHCA.
“When you look at the way the Howard Government has also pushed more costs back onto working families, then these tax cuts have even less meaning. For example, in healthcare alone, the average out-of-pocket costs per person have ballooned since the Howard Government came to power – from $453.00 to $723.00 per person per year.
“Real expenditure by individuals on healthcare has grown by six per cent per year since the Howard Government came to office and now stands at a massive $15.4 billion per year. A lot of this increase in out-of-pocket expenditure is due to pharmaceutical cutbacks by the Howard Government,” Ms Hawksworth said.
4 October 2007
ANF WA Branch
Members of the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) have expressed concern about statements made in the media recently and by the Secretary of the ANF WA Branch about the intentions of the ANF to change its structure from a federation of independent state branches to a national union and that Branches of the ANF are being forced to financially contribute to the ACTU campaign against the WorkChoices legislation against the wishes of Branch Councils.
These views are not correct.
As Federal Secretary of the ANF I would like to ensure that members of the ANF are aware of the ANF Federal Executive’s views on these matters. The ANF Federal Executive today passed the following resolutions:
The ANF Federal Executive notes that the ANF consists of members in Branches. The autonomy of Branches is clearly protected by the Rules. Branches cannot be altered, dismantled or restructured without the consent of the Branch Council of that Branch. The Federal Executive confirms there is no intention and never has been the intention of changing the Federation’s Rules with respect to the autonomy of Branches.
The ANF Federal Executive confirms there is no intention and never has been the intention of compelling members to provide financial or other support for any political party and rejects any suggestion to the contrary by the ANF WA Branch Secretary.
The ANF is a democratic organisation in that State and Territory Branches determine whether they will or will not be involved in particular national campaigns. All the ANF Branches, apart from the WA Branch, are wholeheartedly behind the ACTU campaign to oppose WorkChoices. While the ANF would have liked their WA Branch to support the campaign also, the Branch has the democratic right not to be involved if that is their choice and that choice is respected.
JILL ILIFFE
Federal Secretary
2 October 2007
Howard’s “local hospital boards” are a step back, not forward
We need to fund more staff and new models of care
1. For example, maternity cases shouldn’t be at emergency departments
2. We also need to get registered nurses and GPs back into aged care to reduce hospital readmissions
The Howard Government’s announcement that it will force State governments to re-establish local hospital boards, is a step backwards and does nothing to develop or fund the new models of care necessary to reduce pressure on the hospital system, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) said today.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said simply having another level of government meddling in the administration of hospitals does nothing to deal with pressure situations like that experienced by a pregnant woman at Royal North Shore Hospital last week.
“The real way forward is to ask ourselves why so many women with pregnancy-related issues are forced to go to a hospital emergency department in the first place. That is an issue the QNU will be discussing with Queensland Health as part of our campaign for improved midwifery services around the State.
“We need to find and fund creative solutions to these types of situations. Pregnancy is a life event, not a disease. As midwives have been saying for years, it needs to be managed differently and all its up and downs, including miscarriage, should be dealt with in a maternity-based system, not the accident and medical emergency system. Developing and properly funding such an approach will take pressure off the general hospital system and provide a more focused service for pregnant women and their families.
“These are the types of creative solutions we need. Not a back-to-the-future approach such as reinstating local boards, with all the local politicking, narrow-mindedness and parochialism that goes with them. There needs to be genuine community input into health decision making at all levels. These boards, with all the local patronage and politics they entail, will not achieve that.
“Disconnecting individual hospitals from the broader health system in this way, would also be a disaster for the quality of care and range of safe services in many regions. The fact is, for a variety of reasons not every hospital can provide every service. It is not in the interests of stronger health care to have individual hospital administrators deluding themselves and their local communities that they can.
“The dash-for cash approach that also seems to be part of this funding proposal, should also send shock waves through the community. Let us never forget it was this type of management approach at Bundaberg Hospital that led to the Dr Patel scandals of recent years. Elective surgery was being forced through, without due consideration for patient safety, so the hospital could secure extra funding. What is to stop John Howard’s local boards doing the same thing in their rush to secure extra federal funding?
“The QNU is also very concerned about the prospect of the Howard Government, if it is re-elected, using these boards to meddle in the employment conditions of nurses and other hospital staff. This is code for forcing WorkChoices and AWAs on public hospital nurses, just as they have used funding negotiations to force them on other sectors such as higher education.
“Joe Hockey has been publishing full page advertisements saying nurses are employed by State governments. However, under the board and funding model now proposed, there is big question mark over that.
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