Job offers for mammographers who have opted to stay employed by the public sector remain open, Pacific Radiology Group chief executive Lance Lawler says.
In a change of heart last week, the Southern District Health Board rescinded surplus to requirement notices to 15 mammographers after the workers insisted on receiving redundancy payments the board was keen to avoid.
The board has exited a national breast-screening contract for 18,000 women in the South. PRG has picked it up, taking over on August 4.
Details of how various employment issues would be dealt with under the arrangement were yet to be finalised, Dr Lawler said.
If new mammographers joined the service they would be hired by PRG if they came on board externally.
If they joined from within the health board, they might prefer to remain in the board's employment, he said.
Job offers declined by the mammographers remained open, he said. Asked if other groups in the breast-screening workforce were happy to be employed by PRG, he said he believed so. Radiologists were ''absolutely'' confirmed as having accepted PRG job offers.
