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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-14 Daily Xml
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MODBURY HOSPITAL

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Health. Have any difficulties been encountered with the transition of Modbury Hospital back into the public health system?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:28): I thank the member for Florey for this question and acknowledge her outstanding interest in the Modbury Hospital. As members would recall, when the Liberal Party was last in government, it privatised Modbury Hospital back in 1995, handing over the operation of one of Adelaide's key public hospitals to Healthscope, a private company based in Melbourne.

At midnight on 1 July 2007, the management of Modbury Hospital was transferred back into public hands by the Rann Labor government, fulfilling a key election promise to the people of South Australia. Under the transition agreement between Healthscope and the government, employees were given the option of having their leave paid out or transferring their accrued leave to SA Health. Where staff chose to be paid out, this was facilitated by Healthscope, and no issues have been encountered. Where staff elected to transfer accrued leave, Healthscope provided the government with a record of leave entitlements for these employees as at 30 June 2007.

Some staff at Modbury Hospital have now raised questions about the accuracy of the information provided by Healthscope, with many staff members claiming that their entitlements have been underestimated. I have been working closely with the member for Florey and other members based in the north and north-eastern suburbs to resolve this issue. I want to make it absolutely clear that the government is absolutely committed to ensuring that the hardworking doctors and nurses within our health system receive their full leave entitlements.

The government wrote to all staff earlier this year requesting their authorisation to pursue their claims via a letter to Healthscope demanding full payment of employees' accrued entitlements. We also asked staff for authorisation to request the engagement of SafeWork SA to investigate and determine accrued entitlements. The government has guaranteed to honour the leave entitlements of staff where they can provide evidence that their leave balances transferred from Healthscope were inaccurate. However, we will not accept taking on a financial liability which belongs to Healthscope and which we believe exceeds $3 million.

The government has written to Healthscope on this and other matters relating to the termination agreement, and unless we receive a satisfactory response from Healthscope the government will consider taking legal proceedings on behalf of the relevant employees against Healthscope for the payment of the accrued leave entitlements. Such a process is time intensive, given that it incorporates a class action on behalf of employees, but proceedings can be launched quickly.

The government, on behalf of its employees, has made repeated efforts to resolve this issue commercially with Healthscope over the past two years. In fact, discussions are still continuing. The current situation has gone on for too long. I now take this opportunity to call on Healthscope to do the right thing by the staff for whom this has caused considerable and understandable anxiety. I want to make it clear that the only reason that the hospital staff and the government are in this position is because of the decision by the former Liberal government to privatise Modbury Hospital.

This government is committed to securing workers' proper entitlements. We are also committed to keeping public hospitals in public hands. By keeping clinical services under government management we are ensuring patients come before profits—unlike the opposition which still to this day would privatise the running of hospitals in our state.

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