Rural Ambulance — A Tragedy Waiting To Happen

Written on Monday, October 29th, 2007 by Brenda Be the first to Comment

A lack of staff has forced Rural Ambulance Victoria (RAV) employees to work excessively long hours and abandon on-road duties to man an operations centre, which is putting the health of both patients and employees at risk, said Helen Shardey, Shadow Minister for Health.

Leaked Systems Improvement Process Notices show a system in crisis, with RAV management informed only 50 per cent of normal operating vehicles were available last Saturday night, placing undue stress on staff.

“Despite assurances from RAV’s CEO Jon Holloway that the Board and Senior Executive Team are fully committed to a healthy, safe and supportive workplace CEO Bulletin, Issue 5, 11 October 2007, staff feel their health is being compromised and concerns are being ignored,” said Helen Shardey.

“Last weekend Ballarat paramedics claimed staff shortages forced the ambulance service to turn away patients on Saturday night.

“We have been told of one staff member who has worked eight 14 hour shifts in a row and we believe this has happened on more than one occasion.

“Victorians living in the country deserve an ambulance service which is not plagued by internal issues.

“The Brumby Government has consistently failed to oversee this vital service.

“Currently there are 50 vacancies in RAV, the majority of these are for on-road ambulance paramedics.

“The embattled health minister has demonstrated a blatant lack of concern for the safety of RAV employees,” said Mrs Shardey.

Steve McGhie, Secretary of the Ambulance Employees Union, has said that Ballarat is so under-resourced that regional areas are being left unattended because paramedics are being taken off the road to man the Operations Centre.

“When will the health minister take responsibility for a substandard ambulance service which is failing to meet the needs of country Victorians?” said Mrs Shardey.

DO YOU THINK THIS IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR OUR KIDS?

Written on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

Ted inspects the state of things at Caulfield Junior College

Ted Baillieu visited Caulfield Junior College this morning to see for himself the state of disrepair in our schools.

Addressing Victoria’s massive school maintenance backlog will be a top priority under a $250 million Liberal Government plan.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that Caulfield Junior College needs $266,852 worth of maintenance work to bring it up to scratch.

This money will be made available from the school rescue fund if we are elected next month.  Altogether Caulfield Schools need over $2m worth of urgent maintenance.

Here is the full list of Caufield’s school maintenance backlog to be fixed by a Baillieu government: Read on…

Our Plan For Victorians’ Mental Health

Written on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

Helen & Ted with Jason Dowling of The Sunday Age after launching the policy

 Our plan for mental health released last week will return Victoria to the forefront of mental health care in Australia with $225.7 million of initiatives.

The plan is designed to tackle a problem that has become the western
world’s pandemic and is getting worse. Read on…

Pike’s Waiting List Lies Demolished

Written on Monday, October 16th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

Labor’s pre-election waiting list swindle is in tatters today following revelations that the government has stopped patients getting hospital appointments to prevent them joining the surgery waiting list.

This is one of the worst frauds perpetrated by any government in the
history of the Victorian health system.

Read on…

Did iSOFT lie to the London Stock Exchange about its HealthSMART contract?

Written on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

Karen Dearne’s latest extraordinary article about the troubled UK firm iSOFT, contains the startling suggestion that the firm lied to the London Stock Exchange about its HealthSMART contract.

Read on…

Liberals Have No Plans To Privatise Public Hospitals

Written on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

This week Bronwyn Pike was trying desperately to deflect attenion from her wretched handling of our public hospitals by claiming the Liberal Party is bent on their privatisation.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The Liberal Party has no plans to privatise our public hospitals.

Furthermore, Labor’s attack on the private system is hypocritical as Bronwyn Pike uses the private health system to treat patients when she can’t get them into public hospitals. The Liberal Party’s focus is on sorting the waiting list crisis. Labor’s Health Minister should be paying attention to the public hospital mess, not drawing imaginary bows.

Public Accounts & Estimates Committee Slams Tender Process for HealthSMART

Written on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

The government dominated Public Accounts and Estimates Committee has slammed the way troubled UK software firm iSOFT was awarded a $22.5m contract as part of the HealthSMART project.

ISOFT in the UK is reeling after revelations of accounting irregularities and delays in its dealings with the NHS. Just today it was revealed that the British government made secret upfront payments of £82m to stop it going bust.

Now even Labor MPs have conceded that a Department of Human Services project manager had “inappropriate social contact” with the company. Read on…

Helen’s Letter to the Australian Jewish News

Written on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

This is my letter published last week in the Australian Jewish News concerning the Racial and Religious Tolernace Act. 

I thank the ALP candidate for Caulfield (AJN August 17, 2006) for recognising my support for the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, which I negotiated on behalf of the Liberal Party in my role as the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs. I have been a strong supporter of the Act ever since. Read on…

Bronwyn Pike or your doctor: Who do you believe?

Written on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

‘These kinds of claims, that people are dying while waiting [for] appointments, I find very, very hard to believe’.

These were Health Minister Bronwyn Pike’s words yesterday when confronted with more evidence that people are dying in Victoria while waiting for treatment at our public hospitals. Read on…

Helen’s Speech to the ANF on Industrial Relations

Written on Monday, July 31st, 2006 by Helen Shardey Be the first to Comment

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of addressing the annual conference of the Australian Nursing Federation. Nurses had asked me how the changed industrial relations environment after Work Choices will affect them if we win the election in November. This is what I told them: Read on…