John Miller
Valued Member
Joined: 17 Nov 2003
Posts: 102
Location: New Zealand
|
|
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 6:07 am Post subject: Cost-cutting threatens Christchurch hospital beds |
|
|
Christchurch Hospital is considering closing wards and not replacing staff in a bid to arrest a multimillion-dollar budget blowout.
Hospital management also plan to crack down on a $160,000 overtime bill that they say has contributed to a $2 million employee budget haemorrhage this financial year.
Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) hospital and specialist services general manager Jock Muir said heads of department at the hospital had been told to "intensify" cost-cutting by reducing patient lengths of stay and working with the primary sector to contain acute demand.
The hospital is forecasting a $4m budget over-run for the financial year that ends in June.
Under this forecast, Christchurch Hospital still projects a net operating surplus of $11m compared to a budgeted $15m.
Muir and Christchurch Hospital general manager Jim Magee put the increased staff overtime down to a 2 per cent surge in admissions for January.
The CDHB could expect a fight if nurse-patient ratios were reduced, Nurses' Organisation spokeswoman Chris Wilson said.
"We are aware already nurses have to prioritise around care they are giving. We wouldn't see it as acceptable that nurses have to take on any heavier workloads than they are already enduring.
"When it comes to replacement policies, the less staff they replace the more they will have to pay out in overtime, so that hospital needs as many full-time equivalent staff as possible."
Wilson said the Nurses' Organisation would continue to work with delegates to ensure "safe workloads and appropriate care".
Muir told the CDHB's hospital advisory board yesterday that pressure on all divisions to reduce expenditure and cut costs in the short and medium term had been intensified.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2832497a11,00.html |
|
