TinyChan

Hospital pay stoush could get disorderly

Brad Crouch

Hospital orderlies seeking pay rises are taking a leaf out of ambulance protests by daubing protest graffiti on SA Health property.

The patient services officers now taking industrial action have started writing protest signs on emergency department doors at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) - as paramedics did on ambulances in the lead-up to the 2022 state election - amid claims they are so over-worked and underpaid it is affecting patient care.

United Workers Union is in negotiations with the government over a new pay deal and is understood to be unimpressed by an offer of 4 per cent followed by 3 per cent, then 3 per cent again, over three years.

A senior full-time level 2 health support worker is paid $56,940 annually, compared with about $66,000 in Queensland. A union spokesman said the wage offer did not address inflation that hit 7.8 per cent under the last agreement.

"The offer leaves low-paid workers falling even further behind as they face a continuing cost-of-living crisis," he said.

The union claims the staffing situation at FMC "has reached crisis levels affecting patient care", with slower room turnover and backlogs of patients waiting to be moved. It says attendants are working double shifts, missing breaks and suffering poor morale.

Anthony May, an attendant in the FMC's ED for 16 years, said: "This is the worst it's ever been. We were three people short on Monday then two called in sick so we were five short. That's half the team."

The government said it remained committed to good faith negotiations.