Health Cash Woes Grow

Illawarra Mercury

Friday October 17, 2008

By ANGELA THOMPSON and NATASHA WALLACE

THE region's health service is again under fire for not paying its bills, with Wollongong health facilities named among the state's repeat creditor offenders.

NSW Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner yesterday called on Health Minister John Della Bosca to ensure hospital creditors were paid on time after staff at Dubbo Base Hospital cast a vote of no confidence in hospital management over a shocking lack of resources brought on by unpaid bills.

Late yesterday Mr Della Bosca announced he would release $5 million overnight, on top of $6 million paid out during the past few weeks, and would visit Dubbo Base Hospital next Friday after claims there that it routinely ran out of basic equipment such as gloves, nurses resorted to borrowing bandages from a vet and a doctor paid $770 for a substance needed for blood tests.

Mr Della Bosca said he had launched an investigation into "cash flow" problems at Greater Western Area Health Service and said it was "totally unacceptable" that staff were paying for supplies out of their own pocket.

"I am determined to get to the bottom of this issue as quickly as possible. I have asked the area health service to investigate the claims being made this week at Dubbo Base Hospital," he said.

A source working within South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health told the Mercury staff at Wollongong health facilities were also suffering from a backlash brought on by unpaid bills.

The source said hospital staff had been abused by creditors fed up at not having their accounts paid.

"It's an ongoing thing and it has demoralised a lot of people," the source said.

"It hasn't got better - it seems to be slowly getting worse and people are just getting fed up with having to field calls from people who are running business who should be getting paid.

"I know the (area health service) runs late, they'll deliberately run as long as possible before they have to pay, but sometimes you're talking three or four months before anything gets paid."

Examples of non-payment provided to the Mercury include supermarket tabs and a contractor who was still waiting for payment of $190 four months after completing work for the health service.

Milk deliveries had been refused because of non-payment and a community nurse paid $80 out of his own pocket after filling up a work car with petrol and discovering the debit card had been cancelled due to non-payment.

Ms Skinner yesterday singled out health facilities in Orange, Hornsby Wollongong and Shoalhaven as having similar problems to Dubbo.

South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health could not provide figures on how much money it owed to creditors, but a spokesperson said overdue creditors "represent just over 1 per cent of the health service's total operating expenses" as at August 13.

* Editorial: Page 24

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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