News Flash

MEETING WITH HEALTH CHIEF EXECUTIVE

On Tuesday 23rd February 2010 the PSA met with Dr Tony Sherbon, Chief Executive and Etienne Scheepers, Executive Director of Workforce Development. This meeting was one of the regular consultative meetings with the Chief Executive. The following issues were discussed:-

1. SERVICE RELOCATIONS COMPLETED IN JANUARY

• The Renal Transplant Unit moved from QEH to RAH

• Elective non-traumatic orthopaedics, and a general medicine unit will move to RGH, inpatient vascular surgery will move to FMC.

2. COMMONWEALTH/STATE REFORM

• There is nothing to report at this stage. The Prime Minister appears to be considering a range of options. Further meetings will be held over the coming weeks.

• The Commonwealth has indicated some interest in taking responsibility for Community Health. Any changes in this regard would require some considerable lead time and there will be significant consultation with both the community and the workforce before any policy changes are implemented.

3. WORKFORCE & FINANCE INTEGRATION UPDATE

• The Senior Structure of the proposed merged organisation has been advertised. The Human Resources Principles which will guide the restructure process are being developed.

• Once these Principles have been agreed, the implementation process will commence.

4. SA PUBLIC SECTOR SPECIALIST DENTISTS

The PSA again raised concerns about the lack of strategies in place to address the retention and recruitment issues for Specialist Dentists. These specialists provide unique services to acutely ill children and adults. The Specialist nature of the role is nationally recognised. It is extremely difficult to recruit dentists into this type of work. PSA members have been negotiating with Government since 2007 with a view to ensuring that there are sufficient qualified staff in the future to provide these vital services.

5. GP PLUS MARION

Members have raised concerns about the lack of space and associated issues in the new premises.

• Sharing office space reduces confidentiality

• Administrative staff being located on a different floor will create difficulties

• Insufficient storage space

• Hotdesking

The PSA will put all concerns in writing to the Department of Health and ask that a Occupational Health and Safety audit of the work site be undertaken.

6. ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TRANSITIONAL PROCESS
Allied Health Professionals working in the occupations named in the new Enterprise Agreement will be translated automatically into the new Allied Health Professional classification. Those Allied Health Professionals working in occupations that have job titles not listed in the agreement will be reviewed and the Department of Health will be advising payroll which occupations need to be translated. The implementation date of 14th January 2010 will apply to all Allied Health Professionals being translated into the classification through this process.

The Department of Health has established a number of working groups to undertake the tasks needed to support the new provisions of the Enterprise Agreement. There was no further information available at the time of the meeting.

7. PUBLIC SECTOR ACT

The Department of Health advised that the Human Resource Manual will be reviewed and updated to reflect the new Commissioner for Public Sector Employments Determinations. The Government has asked that all Agencies take steps to ensure their Human Resource policies and procedures are consistent with the Commissioner's Determinations.

The Department has received advice to establish an interim process for Internal and External Reviews in line with the Public Sector Act.

The Public Service Association (PSA) met with DFC representatives to discuss the latest written directive to members at Magill Training Centre to supply a medical certificate for ANY absence from work.

The PSA reminded the department of their responsibility to address absenteeism on an individual basis and to appropriately counsel any member they believe is abusing the system, prior to issuing the member(s) in question with written direction.

PSA MEMBERS WHO STAND TOGETHER,
WIN TOGETHER!

2 February 2010