Healthcare sector woes amid coronavirus chaos as pathology workers stood down
Pathology services across the state have begun standing down workers, with private hospitals set to follow suit after the government’s ban on elective surgery comes into force next week.
VIC News
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Pathology services across the state have begun standing down workers, with private hospitals set to follow suit after the government’s ban on elective surgery comes into force next week.
Australian Clinical Labs yesterday told staff they will shutter 247 of their 395 collection centres from Monday, with staff told they must choose to take annual, long service or unpaid leave.
The company’s main competitor, Dorevitch Pathology, is also understood to have asked its staff to take leave and to wind down their hours.
In a memo to staff on staff Australian Clinical Labs CEO Melinda McGrath said “unfortunately, and counterintuitively” pathology companies were not immune to current economic downturn.
“While we are seeing accelerated activity in obvious areas, many people have reduced their routine testing activities,” she said.
The move coincides with expected lay-offs in private hospitals in the wake of the decision to ban all non-urgent elective surgery from next Wednesday night.
The imminent end of elective surgery has thrown the private hospital system into financial crisis as most its income comes from elective surgery.
While it is understood that no private hospitals have started laying off staff yet, the Herald Sun has been told meetings have been taking place across the sector about what to do with staff for whom there is no work.
Health Workers Union secretary Diana Asmar represents theatre and instrument technicians whose jobs are risk and called on the sector to redeploy staff so there were no job losses.
“All Victorian health workers must be fully utilized at this time,” she said.
“Everyone has a role to play. Pathology collectors, for instance, are critical at this time – we need to ramp up COVID-19 testing.
“Politicians, health department officials, health unions, private and public hospital employers – everyone needs to work together to allocate health workers accordingly. We can’t afford to waste any resources – especially not human resources. All health workers need to be working.”
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