'Frontline' health jobs for the chop

Cost cuts at Palmerston North Hospital are starting to draw blood as nurses and care assistants learned this week how many jobs will go to save $700,000.

A total of 6.2 full-time jobs for care assistants will be dropped, along with 6.3 nursing jobs – a total of 12.5 across the hospital's main surgical, medical and child health wards, neonates, coronary care, intensive care and the high dependency unit.

Nursing director Sue Wood told staff about the cuts at a series of meetings on Thursday afternoon.

Nurses Organisation delegate Donna Ryan said the cuts were presented as non-negotiable, and the only thing offered for consultation was how the rosters could be organised to ensure full cover.

"They cannot claim it's possible to make these cuts without having an impact on patient care and safety," Ms Ryan said.

"It's ironic when we were told by the new government there would be no frontline jobs going, and that's exactly what's happening."

But Ms Wood said the new numbers complied with the staffing framework that had been agreed between district health boards and the nurses' union.

Charge nurses have been credited with setting the level of nursing and care assistants needed.

Ms Ryan said there was some relief among care assistants that the numbers weren't as big as they feared, but she said they were a vulnerable group of workers with redundancies likely. Cuts to nursing numbers would probably be achieved through redeployment and attrition.

"But the nurses are angry about how they are going to cover the work that needs to be done with fewer staff.

"It leaves very little room for ongoing training and education, and they are also worried for the first-year graduates who have been working and receiving mentoring this year – will there be jobs for them after all that effort?"

There were also new recruits on the way from overseas who had been offered jobs as MidCentral Health worked to fully staff the hospital. Ms Wood told staff more savings still had to be found – the target was $7 million.

Palmerston North MP Iain Lees-Galloway said, "however you dress it up, it's cuts to frontline services". "They have already lost nursing leadership positions, and I said then that was the tip of the iceberg. Who's next? It might be nurse educators, and what does that mean for workforce development and their ability to deliver levels of service?"

Labour Health spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said the pressure district health boards were under to make cuts was frustrating to see.

"Health Minister Tony Ryall visited boards like this, and then when they make cuts, he washes his hands and says it's an operational matter.

"Instead of getting support from the minister, he reads the riot act and walks away."

Health matters to Palmerston North:

More than 14 per cent of the city's workforce are employed in health care

That's above the national average of 10 per cent

Palmerston North is the base for 4 per cent of the country's health care industry

But it has only 1.9 per cent of the population

Health care is one of the five top industries in the city

Of those top five, it is expected to grow the most

Health jobs increased in the city by 29.9 per cent in 2000-2008

Source: Palmerston North City Council economic advice