53 unfilled health positions in local health district

NSW Labor has called on the Berejiklian government to explain how it is going to fill some 53 unfilled health and hospital jobs in the Northern NSW Local Health District, which covers the area from Grafton to the border.

Following the revelations, Shadow Health Minister Walt Secord called on the government to ‘properly staff rural and regional health facilities.’

As of October 6, there were 53  health and hospital vacancies within the Northern NSW Local Health District. This includes eight nurses across the local health district as well as 10 positions alone at Lismore Base Hospital.

The positions run the gamut from registered nurses, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, enrolled nurses, management staff, a pharmacist, maintenance staff, emergency and rehab doctors, a visiting medical officer – and even a sexual assault forensic and medical specialist.

Mr Secord said the Berejiklian Government had continued to fail to attract highly skilled medical practitioners to the region and this compromised health care for rural and regional families.

‘It is unfair to patients and their families, but it is also unfair to hard working health and hospital staff in hospitals like the Tweed, Lismore, Ballina, Byron, Grafton, Casino, Maclean and Murwillumbah,’ he said.

‘These are very specialised positions and they provide specific health care such as the sexual assault forensic and medical officer. They cannot be simply filled by another health worker in an acting capacity.’

‘Leaving these positions unfilled let down patients, but it also intensifies pressure on already overstretched staff.

‘The Berejiklian government is forcing rural and regional families to travel great distances to Brisbane and the Gold Coast because under this government, they do not have enough qualified and experienced specialist staff in their local communities to deal with their health needs,’ Mr Secord said.