Labor lie on nurse cuts exposed

Figures I released in Budget Estimates today put the lie to Labor and union claims about “cuts” to frontline health services.

These figures show that in fact there has been an INCREASE of 35 nurses across the three THOs.

As the Premier and Treasurer have confirmed earlier this week, the heavy lifting has been done and catch out the Labor and the union scaremongers who falsely claimed massive further savings in health were required.

These figures showed that 92 percent of the required four year budget savings announced last year are expected to have been achieved this year.

As detailed in the budget, as at 31 March 2015 there had been a reduction of 221 FTEs across the DHHS and THOs, out of a target of 224 FTE.

As confirmed by the total increase in the number of nurses, we have aimed to avoid frontline impacts wherever possible and those efforts have been successful. The majority of these savings in fact came from the DHHS, not the frontline THOs.

I can also confirm that through the process of making savings, no Salaried Medical Practitioners (SMPs) have been given voluntary redundancies or WRIPs. Changes to the number of salaried medical practitioners this financial year relate primarily to the correction of an accounting error in which THO-NW had been classifying locums as SMPs. There is also a small amount of seasonal fluctuation.

It is anticipated that any remaining FTE reductions can be delivered largely by natural attrition, given normal turnover of staff levels in the public sector.
Michael Ferguson, Minister for Health