United Voice

What the minister failed to highlight were his government’s plans to privatise essential health services like cleaning, catering, sterilisation and clerical services at the hospital.
Dave Kelly, secretary of the LHMU, said: “We think the health minister should re-consider his plans to privatise the Fiona Stanley Hospital and other new hospitals planned for the state.
“Dr Hames is obviously hoping the public will swoon over the shiny designs. But our research tells us that the community are much more worried about plans to privatise parts of or all of the new public hospitals.

Privatisation process
“The government likes to describe this privatisation process as ‘contracting out’ or ‘public private partnerships’ but people should not be fooled by semantics.
“Previous attempts to privatise parts of public hospitals in this way have ended in abject failure. After cleaning was privatised at Royal Perth Hospital, the superbugs moved in and it ended up costing taxpayers more in the long run to clean up the hospital and bring the service back in-house.
“What the health minister doesn’t seem to understand is that every function within a hospital is integrated. Doctors, nurses, cleaners, admin – they all work as a team to provide high standards of care. By privatising parts of these services like cleaning, the government would be taking apart the system and undermining levels of care.
“And if they are all accountable to different employers, public accountability and responsibility is also lost.”
A public meeting to discuss the state government’s plans to privatise essential services in hospitals and schools will take place in the South Lake Leisure Centre, South Lake Drive on Wednesday, June 9, from 6.30pm.
This is an important meeting for the local community to get more information about the state government’s plans, which have so far been introduced without any consultation with the community that will be most affected.
The premier Colin Barnett and his health minister Kim Hames have been invited to attend the meeting, as have local MPs Joe Francis, Mike Nahan and Peter Abetz.
Shadow health minister Roger Cook, who recently tabled the No Privatisation in Schools and Hospitals Bill, will address the community. The Australian Medical Association have been invited to attend.

The government is also planning to privatise the Midland Health Campus, parts of the new Albany Regional Hospital and the new childrens' hospital.