Allied health workers latest to seek payrise

Allied Health professionals are the next NSW public sector group seeking a pay rise, opening up the prospect of another wage battle for the Minns government in the coming months.

Allied health professionals work across a range of area including physiotherapist, occupational therapists, optometrists and chiropractors.

Allied Health professionals are the next public sector group in the state seeking a pay rise, opening up the prospect of another wage battle for the Minns government in the coming months.

The Health Services Union (HSU) is seeking a complete overhaul of more than 40 different employee awards covering more than 25,000 allied health workers. Instead the union is hoping to cover the same workers with less than five wage awards.

The wage claims come after the multiple enterprise agreements ended on Tuesday, with allied health professionals the latest to prepare to hit the negotiating table. The Minns government is still battling nurses, firefighters, doctors and psychiatrists in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Allied health professionals work across a range of areas including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, optometrists and chiropractors.

Allied Health professionals are the next public sector group in the state seeking a pay rise.

The HSU has yet to publicly release its exact wage requests.

The NSW government’s base offer is a 10.5 per cent increase over three years.

The government has asked all bargaining unions to identify productivity offsets to help fund wage rises.

To help sell their wage claims the HSU released a report on Wednesday estimating Medicare fraud and improper billing practices by medical professionals cost the Australian government between $1.5-$10 billion annually, arguing the money could be better used to fund the pay rises of essential health workers.

The report, which includes a survey of more than 110 union members, found that one third had witnessed improper billing in their workplace, of which half faced explicit pressure to maximise profit. Yet only 17 per cent said they knew how to report Medicare fraud.

Health Services Union Secretary Gerard Hayes. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

One health worker working for radiography service Alpenglow reported in the report they were told to advise patients expensive procedures must be performed over multiple days despite no clinical reason, in order to increase the bill to Medicare.

Another practitioner working for eHealth NSW said they often witnessed medical professionals billing Medicare for the price of a long consultation when in reality they were two-minute telehealth appointments.

A spokesperson for the Federal Department of Health said a Medicare Integrity Taskforce was currently working on solutions to better detect fraud and noncompliance.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

In addition to new awards under the state system, HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes has also called for the Federal government to implement real-time fraud detection for the Medicare system and establish an integrity commission.

“While our members are struggling to make ends meet and considering leaving the profession due to poor pay, billions of taxpayer dollars are being siphoned away from healthcare through fraudulent Medicare billing,” he said.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the government has been undertaking award reform with the HSU since last year.

“I’ve met with the HSU on a number of occasions about reforms to Allied Health Awards and I’m confident we can deliver important changes together,” he said.

“I’m incredibly grateful for their advocacy to achieve meaningful change in the health system that has needed serious investment for a very long time.”

Originally published as Allied health workers latest to seek payrise