Mildura Hospital Pharmacy lined up for Outsourcing
Ramsay Health, which operates the Mildura Hospital, is proposing to outsource the Pharmacy to a Ramsay national pharmacy service. This proposal is based on Ramsay’s claim that the Mildura pharmacy is 78% more expensive to operate than hospitals it ‘benchmarked’ against, which included a small private hospital and a WA hospital that has contracted the pharmacy department to a retail chemist chain. When asked to provide evidence to support what is clearly a wild claim about cost comparisons, management reluctantly agreed to provide the financial data it has relied upon. The union will very carefully review this information.
Incidentally, the proposal involves a claim by management that the public health agreement currently applying to staff would change to an “Industry Award”. When questioned about which actual Award is being proposed management had to admit that they didn’t know! Needless to say that the Union will oppose any attempt to change the agreement setting employment terms and conditions for pharmacists, especially to an agreement or award which would reduce them.
