70 hospital staff stand to lose jobs
APPROXIMATELY 70 nurses and staff at the Sarah Fox Children’s Convalescent Hospital in Athlone stand to lose their jobs as the hospital faces closure at the end of the month.
This comes after the provincial Department of Health, which funds 90% of the hospital’s operational costs, withdrew funding. The hospital, which has been operating for over 50 years, saw staff protesting outside yesterday, demanding that funding be reinstated so that they did not have to suffer the consequences of past maladministration.
“All the administration staff will be without jobs; posts were advertised for the nurses, but there is nothing for us. We asked the department what’s going to happen to us and got no response,” said hospital financial officer Keith Booysen.
“They want us to manage the exit strategy, but at the end of the day we’re tanked.”
Social worker Ashley Benjamin said: “(There is) no job security, no retrenchment packages, our children are left to go to other hospitals and there is no clear plan.
“We’re tired of mismanagement and poor governance; there’s nothing wrong with our service.”
Another staff member, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Cape Argus that the withdrawal of funding was the fault of the hospital board who were paid despite not being present at the hospital.
Hospital interim executive chairperson Grant Abernethy denied accusations he was being paid for days he was not present at the hospital; he said staff were unaware of behind-the-scenes work done by the board, including fighting the department’s withdrawal of funds.
“Staff are misled and don’t know what we do as board members. I do large amount of work outside of the hospital.
‘NO RETRENCHMENT PACKAGES, OUR CHILDREN ARE LEFT TO GO TO OTHER HOSPITALS’
“As a board, we’re challenging the department in this process; Sarah Fox had poor management and corruption until about two years go. The hospital turned around in many ways,” said Abernethy.
The National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers has taken the matter up with the Department of Health and the Department of Labour as staff who face losing their jobs have no guarantee of future employment.
Provincial Health Department spokesperson Mark van der Heever confirmed that funding would be withdrawn at the end of the month and said the department’s district office was trying to avoid job losses by providing the Sarah Fox employees with new jobs at other NPOs.
“Sarah Fox will continue to render health services to the patients until the end of August whereafter the new contract with the new service provider will commence.
“We can assure patients and their families that the department prioritised the well-being of our patients through concluding and awarding the new contract to ensure our patients receive continued care,” said Van der Heever.