Staff at SA Pathology are stampeding to grab redundancies

SA Pathology staff are stampeding to grab voluntary redundancy packages as the organisation is overhauled and trimmed for efficiency, after years of uncertainty and threats of cuts.

Health Minister Stephen Wade. Picture: Dylan Coker

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More than 200 staff have applied for voluntary redundancies at SA Pathology as it undergoes major reforms and cost savings to stave off the threat of privatisation.

Officials now face working out which staff can go and which remain vital to continue its services.

The applications equate to 160 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions, and is close to the 200 FTEs the State Government calculates would go if a consultants’ recommendation to make the organisation more efficient were implemented.

The stampede for the golden handshakes after an offer on May 13 comes after years of threats to cut back jobs and two different consultants’ reports — one under Labor and the latest under the Liberals — which both recommended efficiency reforms to make tens of millions of dollars in savings.

The Labor government’s review by Ernst and Young in 2014 recommended cutting the workforce by 332 for annual savings of $42.2 million, but was shelved in the face of union hostility.

The Liberals’ review by PriceWaterhouseCoopers recommends reforms to save $35 million a year by 2022, which would see about 200 jobs go.

SA Pathology leaders Julienne TePohe and Dr Tom Dodd have sent staff a notice saying: “Just over 100 FTE positions have been supported in-principle and will be the subject of consultation, starting in mid-July and continuing until late September.”

Another 40 FTE roles are considered “pending”.

In April, Health and Wellbeing Minister Stephen Wade gave SA Pathology 12 months to undertake its own reforms before a review which may lead to privatisation unless it shows large savings.

SA Pathology acting clinical services director Dr Tom Dodd this week told a parliamentary committee he was “confident we are able to deliver the savings we need to undertake in the next 12 months”.

He added: “We are not in a position to provide fine detail around the total number of staff who may exit SA Pathology — some staff will leave.”

The reforms plus staff keen for voluntary redundancies reduces the threat of forced redundancies. The next stage will look at where the business has changed, including use of new technology, to allow redundancies without impacting on service and safety.