Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan says a staggering number of health staff have left the profession in the NT, a large amount of which have been from the rural area

Transcript

Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan says a staggering number of health staff have left the profession in the NT, a large amount of which have been from the rural area · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Because we know that estimates continues in the Northern Territory
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: today with mining and environment the focus. Now, like I
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: said a little earlier, we found out earlier in the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: week that health was a major focus with the revelation
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: that fourteen hundred health staff reportedly resigned, sixty five of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: those staff were actually sacked, and one person was made redundant.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: This is between July one, twenty twenty one, and March
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: this year. It is four hundred and fifty additional resignations
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: compared to the previous reporting period. Now the numbers really
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: are quite massive and no doubt having an impact on
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: an already stretched health system. Now joining me on the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: line to talk more about this is the opposition's health spokesperson,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Bill Yan.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: A very good morning to you, Bill, Oh.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Now, Bill, fourteen hundred staff have resigned, sixty five of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: those sacked, one made redundant. Was there any context given
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to this massive loss in staff?
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: And those numbers are absolutely shocking. K And remember that
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: those numbers are run with for nine months, So when
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: you extrapold that out for twelve months, add another four
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: hundred and eighty. So we maybe look at nearly eighteen
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: and nineteen one hundred of our health professionals leaving in
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: twelve months.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: But when we are goodness week, So Bill, sorry, hang
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: on a second.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So fourteen hundred health staff obviously, as we know, that's
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: for that nine month period, and then what did you
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: say there was another four hundred and ninety.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Well, well, if you look at it, you divide fourteen
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: hundred by nine months, that's read about four hundred and
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: seventy to four hundred and eighty per three months of leave.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: We've still got three months to go ocating, so that
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: number could be as high as seventeen or eighteen hundred
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: health staff leaving by the end of the year. If
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: you look at if that trend continues for the last quarter,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: those numbers are absolutely staggering and astonishing. And the Chief Minister,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: who is a health minister, couldn't give us any reasons why,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: So no context. Absolutely staggering.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So no context Bill as to why we've lost such
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: a phenomenal number of staff, any like, any sort of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you know, any idea whether we've been able to replace
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: those staff or are we literally operating here with that
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: volume of staff less within the health system well, we try.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: To get some answers on starting in our global questions.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: We didn't seem to get much response at that. But
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the only thing that the Minister came up with and
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: tried to gloss over this really shocking figures that a
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: number of those people could have been those coming to
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: the end of a contract. Well, if you're coming to
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: end of your contract, your contract seasons, it's not a resignation,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: so that doesn't stack up either. So there's some really
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: fundamental issues here within our health system that we need
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: to really look at an address to find out why
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: our health professionals are leaving the territory, are leaving the
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: sector for what reasons? Why and what is the government
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: actually doing them to try and replace people because they
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: continue with their wage freeze and what is the bonus
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: the bogus bonus our nurses again end up some of
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: little that was paid in the country by the end
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: of this four year term of government. And how are
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: we going to recruit to attract and of course cheap
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: health professions in the Territory bill.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Could it be a situation here where we've wound up
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: with that many less staff because we no longer have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the Howard Springs quarantine facility operating or are we talking
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: about staff here who've been lost from our hospitals and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: some of our clinic settings.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: No, these people I believe that have been lost from
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: our hospitals and clinics across the territory. Most of those
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: staff that came in to look after our springs were
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: by the Minister's admission with CIRCO. They were contracting staff
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: and they were saying as the quest in Parmesan. But
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: the other thing to considericating how those four hundreds have gone,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: And that's a forty six or forty accent increase over
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: the same period last year, over seven hundred and forty
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: those people that left from outside the top end, so
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: over half of from our regional remote area. So we're
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  Speaker 3: talking Catherine Tennant, Alice Springs and our remote clinics across
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  Speaker 3: the territory. So serves us out into the bush and
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  Speaker 3: serves us out into where our smaller communities and towns
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  Speaker 3: have really really been hurt by this. And that's what
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: concerns me to mate Bill.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Was there much was there much information gleaned when it
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: comes to both the Royal Darwin Hospital but also the
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Palmerston Regional Hospital. We know that the Palmeston Regional Hospital,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the emergency area at different times has not been operating
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: at full capacity. Is certainly what we have been told
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: by people out there. Any information as to whether it
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: is operating at its full capacity at this point in
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  Speaker 1: time or how things are tracking well.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: We certainly ask questions about the ED at Palma, because
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: that's been a fairly contentious issue for residents out there
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: for some time because the government we're looking to close
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: that at one stage, but then remained it. I managed
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: to keep it open and four bed running. I actually
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: asked the Minister and the CEO of help where we stand,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: how many beds are running? What is there an average?
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  Speaker 3: They couldn't actually give me any exact figures. When I asked,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: we wanted to know how many beds are open right
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: now today, They couldn't give us that figure. So I asked, well,
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: how many are normally opening? They couldn't give us that figure.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: To ask for an average, I couldn't get that figure.
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  Speaker 3: All I've got was we do it on an operational basis,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: based on loads and everything else. So yeah, I think
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  Speaker 3: you'd have to be a fortune teller to try and
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: figure that one out and maybe actually sit in the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Palm oed and actually count the number of beds, But
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  Speaker 3: it still looks like they're moving a large number of
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  Speaker 3: people from the Palms from the hospital from me across
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  Speaker 3: the Royal Army because I think at one point eighty
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: five million dollars a year currently in transport costs from
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: palm Oss Rule.
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  Speaker 2: Darlin, it's a massive amount of money.
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  Speaker 1: I mean one point eight five million dollars to be
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: transporting patients between Palmerston Hospital and Royal daal And Hospital.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: It's not the only thing that's quite expensive at this point.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I mean we've seen that Health spent around twenty million
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: dollars in overtime at Royal.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Daal And Hospital.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: That was twelve million dollars at Alice Springs Hospital, it
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: was five point five million at the Palmerston Regional Hospital
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  Speaker 1: one point two million dollars, Catherine Hospital six hundred and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: sixty thousand, Go of District Hospital six hundred and twenty thousand,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Tenant Creek Hospital five hundred and twenty thousand bill.
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  Speaker 2: They're massive numbers.
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  Speaker 1: But I guess most people would be listening this morning
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and would be pretty understanding that the health budget is
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: always going to be high, but also that our overtime.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: If overtime needs to be paid to make sure that
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: patients are being seen and that we've got staff in
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the hospital, then it's got to happen.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Oh you look, over time is going to be inevitable
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: in any case, k within the hospitals that it's really
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: exacipated by the fact that we're low on start the
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: what's fourteen hundred people, So if you don't have people
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: to do the job, then the people just left they've
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: got to step up and fill those gaps. I remember
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: those overtime figures CUK. They're only for nine months as well,
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: so that's around about it's over six point three or
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: six point four million dollars a quarter and overtime. So
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: by the end of the financial year. This is what
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the Minister and the course Department Health wouldn't give me
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: the figures because I asked, well, have you projected your
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: figures for the end of year and I said, oh no,
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: we haven't. Any CEO worth his salt would have done
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: that those figures are going to end up around that
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  Speaker 3: twenty six million dollar mark for overtime across our hospitals
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: for the twelve month period.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: So what do you reckon needs to happen here?
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Because I mean, like I said, a lot of people
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: listening this morning are going to be thinking, well, do
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: you know what if we've got to pay overtime? The
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: one department that I'm actually okay with it being paid
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to is health staff within the hospital.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: But what do you think needs to happen here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, first and foremost, we need to be recruiting to
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: those vacant positions because our health staff can't keep bashing
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: this over time out our long term. It's going to
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: lead to the fatigue. They're going to turn themselves out,
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  Speaker 3: and sadly, when people get tied, they start to make mistakes,
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  Speaker 3: and nobody wants to mistake make a mistake in their
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  Speaker 3: health system. So we need to be recruiting. We need
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: to be making sure that our health staff, their wage
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: power is maintained with those across the rest of the country.
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  Speaker 3: Our health staff need to be up there in that
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: top one or two. We need to be recruiting the
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  Speaker 3: best and the brightest from across the country to the
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  Speaker 3: territory because trust me, every other state and territory is
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: bumping their wages up because they're in the same boat.
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  Speaker 3: They're going to be pulling staff from the territory into
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: those eastern and southern states the boss of their health systems.
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  Speaker 3: We need to be doing the same thing.
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  Speaker 2: At this point in time.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds as are you're calling on the government realistically
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  Speaker 1: to be looking at how we're paying our health professional
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and potentially a pay rise for those health professionals so
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: that we can actually try to attract and retain more
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  Speaker 1: of them.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the bonus longer term is going to make our
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  Speaker 3: nurses and our health professionals some of the lowest paid
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: in the country. There are going to get their four
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: thousand dollar bonus first year and the two thousand dollar
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: bonus for the next couple of years, which is all
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: well and good. It's great at the time, but it's
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: not real real wage growth. It's not towards a serf
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: for anyways. Then in four years time, this comes from
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: the Australian Nursing Miblitry Federation. They've already done the sums
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  Speaker 3: and they reckon that our nurses here in the territories
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  Speaker 3: will be some of the lowest paid in the country.
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  Speaker 3: So how do we attract people from other jurisdictions to
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: come to the territory, to come and work in the
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: territory and enjoy the territory lives off when the money's
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: not there, it's just it doesn't ate up.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: No Well, bill moving along and I know that your
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: press for time as a we but obviously that discussion
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: yesterday did turn to the Northern Territori's budget when the
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: new Treasurer Evil Laula took the hot seat answering questions
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: really around the budget which was handed down by her predecessor,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Michael Gunner. Now we understand that Leah finoc Guiaro, the
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: opposition leader, did ask a number of questions in relation
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: to the budget and she's claiming that's well, realistically, the
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: current government is not going to be able to return
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the territory's economy to surplus in just three short years
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: as they've claimed.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Well, it was pretty evident from the questioning yesterday by
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Leah to the Treasurer that the Northern Churchary government basing
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: their return to surplus on GST revenue from the federal government.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: And that's that's a very very dangerous move if you're
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: basing all your plans on the future that the federal
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: government are going to give you a bigger than normal
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: handout to try and balance and bring your budget a surface.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Then that is a very very dangerous game. We need
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: to be drawing our own revenue and that was something
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: the Treasury couldn't give to us into territories yesterday. Our
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: our mining revenues are down. There was no new plan
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: to grow our own source revenue here in territory. Their
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: entire plan was based on handouts from the federal government.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: What happens if the federal government can't come to the
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: party and can't come up with those handouts, and then
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: we will see our debt increasing yet again over the
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: already staying levels of debt eyewarding at eight point six
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: billion dollars. It's just in all your hopes, but all
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: your eggs in that one basket of the federal are
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: going to bail us out. It's a very very dangerous
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: movement and it's for the issues.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Well do you reckon?
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: It's fair enough that we do try to sort of
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: get as much as we can, though when it comes
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: to GSD, given the fact that it is, you know,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: so much more expensive for us to deliver different services
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: in the northern territory based really on our you know,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: our location alone, and then when you look at some
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: of our more remote locations.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Quite absolutely get as much JEWS GUS as we can, Katie,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I have absolutely no wishes that the territory actually gets
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: a higher GUS two revenue from the federal government because
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: of those reasons, because of the remoteness, because of the
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: people in territory. So we probably do a little bit
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: better than some of the other states and territory as
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: far as our GST revenue goes, but we've got to
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: take some own some of our own responsibility for some
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: of our own issues. Yes, get as much US to
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: revenue as we can. I have no issues with that.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Go to the federal government and wave to plague and
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: say hey, we need to help a little bit different
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: to everybody else. But we've still got to own up
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: and say we have to try and generate some of
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: our own revenue internally, and that makes us a little
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: bit more sol sufficient. But then that allows us to
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: do the nice to do things, to start to grow
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: and expand what we're doing here in the territory with
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: that extra money, rather than living hands to mouth from
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: GST from the federal government.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Hey Bill, I've got a quick one here from Kim
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: in Humpty Dew. I'm not sure whether you're able to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: answer this or whether there was any infogiven throughout the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: estimates process, but this one from Kim says, Hi, Katie,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I wonder what percentage of the overtime shifts were not filled,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: how many staff were put in serious work health safety risks?
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Well, and that comes down to the short staff, Katie,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: because a I know from previously being in government, I'd
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: have vacancies where I work and sometimes I couldn't fill them,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: so we run short. And when you run short, then
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: you create other issues across the board. And that was
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: in correctional services, and that's really difficult for both guys,
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: and I had no doubt it's the same for people
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: at the hospital. If you're short, or this is on
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: a ward, then because there's not enough for people in
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: service to the people on that ward is the priest
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: and the ability to maintain minimum standards is very difficult,
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: and it also puts the nurses of the left at
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: a high level of risk trying to keep up with
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: that workload. So yeah, I agree with everything the lay
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: from Humpty doers.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: See, Hey, before I let you go, Bill very quick one.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: We know that this issue with the turf Club grandstand,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: it's just not going away.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: What needs to happen here, well, the.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Government needs to come out and tell us exactly what
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: they're doing. There was a number of questions I asked
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: the Treasury yesterday. It was really really interesting that there
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: was an old adage for the military the best defense
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: is an offense, and that's what the Treasurer came out
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: with this. So one question about the grand stand, the
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: Treasurer came out on the offense of blaming the leader
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: of the opposition for asking questions about it. That's what
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: we're there for. We need to find out what exactly
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: is going on. The government have provided them with the grant.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: The government probably now need to say, all right, well
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: they've got the building, because as the leader of the
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Opposition said, as leaders said yesterday, it puts into doubt
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: any other grants provided to sporting organizations. If there's any
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: possible impropriety, the government to kind of come banging on
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: their door wanting their money back, and a lot of
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: organizations can't affoard that. So we need some clear direction
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: from this government. Is exactly what they're going to do,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: because at the moment it's all sort of hidden away.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: They don't want to talk about it. They're being quite
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: poor and evasive about the turf Club and the Grand Stead.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll wait and see exactly what happens in that space.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Bill Yan, the opposition spokesperson for Health. We appreciate your
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: time this morning. Thank you.