Admin staff to cut hours at hospital

Staff at Dunstan Hospital face cutbacks to their working hours as part of a plan to save up to $100,000 in the 2009-10 financial year.

General manager Carol Horgan confirmed yesterday that about 17 to 20 staff in the hospital's administration and management teams would be reducing their hours from next week.

Dr Horgan said the cutbacks were in response to the hospital's projected funding shortfall of up to $200,000 in the next financial year.

The News reported this month that Dunstan had been forced to reduce the level of community physiotherapy and disability support services provided for patients as a result of the deficit.

At the time, Central Otago Health Services Ltd chairman Russell McGeorge said cuts were needed to maintain the financial viability of the hospital, which had had its funding capped at last year's level.

Dr Horgan said yesterday the hospital had been forced to ‘‘make a number of cuts in all sorts of things'' in order to live within its financial means.

Cuts which had ‘‘the least impact on patient services'' were proposed and initially all management and administrative staff were asked to consider a voluntary reduction in hours.

Nursing and medical staff were not asked to drop their hours as the hospital's wards needed to maintain their existing levels of staffing.

Dr Horgan said ‘‘most'' of the 17 to 20 staff affected agreed to a voluntary reduction in their hours of up to one day a fortnight, which was ‘‘greatly appreciated''.

However, after the initial voluntary round of cutbacks did not achieve enough savings, other staff who had not volunteered were then required to cut back their hours similarly.

The latest round of cutbacks would take effect from next week, Dr Horgan said.

‘‘We have undertaken to assure these staff that when the financial situation improves and if there is a need to increase administrative activities, they will be the first ones to be offered their hours back.''

Staff had also been assured no further cutbacks were planned, Dr Horgan said.

Expected savings from the staff cutbacks were ‘‘less than $100,000'', she said, adding that staff were ‘‘not being asked to do the same job in less hours'' as new systems would ensure time savings.
In recent years, staffing hours had ‘‘crept up'' and the cutbacks were ‘‘clawing back'' hours to what they once were, Dr Horgan said.

Other cutbacks at the hospital included a ‘‘less than 10 per cent'' reduction in community services staff such as social workers, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

When allied health staff such as these had resigned or ‘‘chosen to go down in hours'', they had not been replaced, Dr Horgan said.

- Jenny Collier