STAFF and the community are furious after being told the Bourke Street Health Service will close by the end of next year.
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Health unions and the public rallied outside the facility on Thursday in response.
Management’s shock announcement in a meeting with staff on Monday came four years before a scheduled move to the redeveloped Goulburn Base Hospital.
Goulburn’s Health Services manager Denis Thomas broke the news to the “standing room only” meeting.
“Everyone was aghast with what was said,” NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Goulburn branch assistant secretary Jane Cotter told The Post.
”Everyone was expecting it to happen when the new hospital was finished but there was absolutely no warning or consultation that it would occur earlier.”
Ms Cotter said the Association would not take it lying down. Protests and rolling campaigns are planned regarding Bourke St and the proposed Hospital partial privatisation.
The Health Services Union held a “crisis” meeting with Base staff about privatisation on Wednesday.
Staff were not given any detail on the future of numerous services at Bourke Street, Ms Cotter said. These include Palliative Care and Oncology, the 21-bed Marian Unit, mental health facility Giles Court, the Brain Injury Unit and hydrotherapy pool.
While Palliative Care and Oncology is to be incorporated into the new $120 million Base Hospital redevelopment, staff and the community are confused where other services will go.
“It was not explained how it will all fit,” Ms Cotter said.
“There is a lot of unrest about job security and members are really worried.
“...We are all like rabbits in the headlights. We don’t know what’s going on.”
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Louise Thrower
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
If you have a story to tell, drop me a line at louise.thrower@austcommunitymedia.com.au or call 0418 229 678.
