@ JohnF
It must be worth something that 'mirrors' got to kiss the Pope's ring ?
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@ JohnF
It must be worth something that 'mirrors' got to kiss the Pope's ring ?
John it all sounds very disgraceful, not that you would hear it from me, it would be a breach of policy and code of conduct but the funding crisis is the same in the city. A hospital senior pharmacist, whom I know well, was asked by the media why they had not been supplying particular cancer drugs, she replied that the Hospital had not paid its bill with the pharmaceutical company so they would not supply. The next day the Hospital's senior executive did a media interview where he called the pharmacist a liar. The same hospital, a nurse manager had to go to the local hardware shop to buy a tin of paint out of her own pocket so the painters could paint a door, apparently the Area Health Service had not paid the bill of the paint supply company.Quote:
Originally Posted by JDNSW
The same Hospital is apparently running over the NSW Health allocated budget by $300,000.00 per month. The budget allocation includes a 6% annual productive gain. Which means that every year the budget is calculated taking into account the CPI increases (which are very different and lower than the increases in medical costs) and 6% is then deducted, also deducted is the budget over-run from the previous year. The result if the Hospital in question had no debts for last year and continues at the current rate, it will have 3.6 million dollars less than the total budget for this year and that will have 6% deducted so we can run next year. Add to that the A$ is now at US$0.62 and Australia makes almost no medical equipment or major pharmaceuticals and you will get the picture.
Never let it be said that I mentioned anything like this about my employer.
I know, they have got them on the drip, so the Govt. should collect a few of the drips. Need to act quickly as the drips evaporate when the six figure jobs vanish and the newly unemployed find they are now labourers and shop assistants.Quote:
Originally Posted by rick130
First 6 months working in a particular government department health facility and we were buying our own stationary. We got 1 box of pens supplied while I was there so the CO handed them out to those who could give him an empty pen in return.
A department store chain used to do this. New pen for old. Hand in a used scribble pad, both sides of the page used, to get another. They also had metal tubes in which a worn short pencil could be inserted to be able to wear the pencil right down to a stub.Quote:
Originally Posted by George130
Crippled system left for dead - National - smh.com.au
Quote:
anuary 31, 2009
Hospitals are leaving a trail of unpaid bills across the state but, as Kate Benson discovers, nobody is being held to account.
IF the NSW health system was a patient, it would be struggling for air, festering wounds dotting its limbs and not a relative in sight to wipe its fevered brow.
As the Greater Western Area Health Service was admitted to intensive care this week, under a mountain of unpaid bills stretching back more than four months, those charged with its care fell over themselves to leave the room.
Buck-passing and finger-pointing became more popular than an ice cube at the tennis as everyone from the Premier, Nathan Rees, to the director-general of NSW Health, Debora Picone, and Greater Western's chief executive, Claire Blizard, ducked for cover.
Even the Health Minister, John Della Bosca, was not making anyone accountable, despite six of the eight area health services owing creditors $113 million by last Thursday.
Only two, Sydney South West and Hunter New England, were clear of debt. The Children's Hospital at Westmead, which manages itself, owed $4.5 million.
Last year the Garling inquiry heard that the non-payment or late payment of bills was common across NSW and routinely led to the suspension of services and delays in supplying goods.
In the past few months, patients in the Greater Western area have gone without meat and vegetables, and a Parkes security firm threatened to withdraw its services, putting nurses' lives at risk, to get the money it was owed.
But the problems stretch across the state. Nurses at Mudgee use petty cash to buy blood glucose strips from the chemist while those at Orange bought cupcake papers to use as medication dispensers because there are no pill cups.
Merimbula taxi drivers, Dubbo coffee shops, Broken Hill computer technicians and security guards from Hay, to name a few, were all lining up this week with their palms out.
Sydney has not been immune. Last year the pharmacy at the Sydney Children's Hospital was without hot water for three days because of unpaid bills, and patients' files at Prince of Wales are not sent to treating doctors because courier companies are all owed money.
Nathan Rees, however, was "too busy with other things" on Tuesday to discuss the crisis or the $117.5 million owed across the state. He spent the day at a Penrith high school encouraging teenagers to stay longer at school. Fabulous careers in politics - or health management - awaited them if they could hold out until 17.
Here's hoping none had aspirations to be surgeons. At Dubbo hospital, staff have gone days without gloves and bandages, patients have lacked morphine and those in intensive care spent five days this week sweltering in 37 degree heat because suppliers and maintenance workers had cancelled services pending payment.
Rees's advisers angrily asked if we had taken up the matter with the health minister and the Health Department. After all, it was a health matter.
The Health Department's boss, Picone, had not spoken on the issue since it boiled over days earlier and her advisers seemed bemused about our request for a comment. It was an area health service matter, and they look after themselves, they said.
Picone was willing to issue a two-line statement saying one small business operator, owed $6000, would be paid that day, but she was not prepared to talk about anything else. She changed her tune the next day, phoning to explain how the situation had become so dire.
Costs had spiralled since the Australian dollar fell, distances in the Greater Western area were huge and retaining staff was near to impossible, Picone said.
She made no excuses for late payments and stressed that she had firmly told the health service's boss, Blizard, that she had five months to clean up the mess. But there was no mention of heads on the chopping block if the debt remained.
Blizard is in charge of an area health service employing more than 7000 people and covering 56 per cent of the state. She deals with 6500 creditors a year, offering up 30,000 invoices and manages $460 million a year of public money.
Last year her health service owed creditors $60 million. Thanks to a $28 million advance from the health minister, and stern words from Picone, last week that debt was down to $23 million. But in rural areas, where she prefers to do most of her business, that still represents a lot of heartache for small operators employing only a handful of staff and relying on drought-stricken residents to keep food on their tables.
When the Herald approached her in Dubbo on Wednesday, she hid behind closed doors and sent someone out to ask that we "move down the street or go and have a cup of coffee" so she could slip away.
We politely declined and waited in 38 degree heat on a public bench outside the door.
Exiting out the back door would not have looked good. Half an hour later a visibly uncomfortable Blizard relented and agreed to answer questions - but not in the street.
The credit crisis had been building, she said vaguely, but had only became a monumental problem unexpectedly in the middle of last year. She was doing her very best to resolve the issue but creditors needed to ring her hotline if they expected to get paid.
Submitting an invoice with a due date was simply not good enough. And neither was expecting payment in less than 45 days, despite the State Government giving its creditors only 28 days to pay.
Security of staff seemed to be paramount, but food supplies were not. She was vague on staffing numbers, unclear as to who was still owed money and could give no end date to the crisis for desperate business owners. "I am aiming to make an improvement but it may not be done by June," she smiled, seemingly confident that her job was not on the line.
Later that evening, she supped at an upmarket restaurant with bureaucrats, glass of wine in hand and a smile on her face.
The circus starts again. But who is tending to the patient?
I have had two kidney transplants and numerous operations over the last ten years, when i go to hospital i am always asked to sign a medicare assignment form. I have to sign several medicare forms for pathology, they keep them and send away with each path test so if all my bills are going to fed govt where is all the money from the state budget going:confused:. hospitals, trains, buses, police, education etc all running out of money. WHAT IS GOING ON IT IS SIMPLY NOT ACCEPTABLE !!! :mad:
Ahh, NSW health, what a State it has become.
Have you all considered a clean out at Macquarie St? Couldn't hurt could it?:p
What does your local member have to say for his/herself?
I suspect that QLD health is not far behind, but we'll fix that later this year:D
BTW, when we were federated, the states really only had a few responsibilities, Health and Education being big ones, along with providing a revenue office, post master service and some trains.
How they have botched it!:mad:
Still, hope it all works out for everyone.
Ralph
Do you really think that the alternative is any better?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph
Look at the unlovely lot in opposition in Qld. Imagine them in government. Dominated by the Country Crooks (sorry, National Party) and a billionaire who is trying to buy himself a government.
The NSW opposition couldn't suck boiled lollies without frequent re-instruction and close supervision.
Not to take any heat off the issue, but income tax only passed from the states to the Federal Government during the second world war, as a temporary measure, they never handed it back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph