The Queensland Health Minister, Lawrence Springborg, has announced the corporate restructure of Queensland Health which will see the loss of 2,754 jobs, including 1217 full-time-equivalent jobs from the corporate head office and 1537 from Queensland Health's 17 regions, now run by hospital and health boards.


Mr Springborg said the department’s corporate head office had been re-designed as a system manager in support of hospital boards and devolved decision-making state-wide.

“In dollar terms, the budgetary starting point for these changes was a reduction of $326M,” Mr Springborg said. “That meant Queensland Health was staring down the barrel of statewide FTE reductions of 4142. But at the end of this process, that monetary target will be achieved with an overall staff reduction of just 4 per cent or 2754 FTE.”

Queensland Health head office will lose 1217 FTE jobs, or 43 per cent of its current workforce, leaving it 1441 FTE employees.

 

Mr Springborg said the loss of jobs in local health services was due to Labor’s bungled health payroll system.

“There is an undeviating correlation between the payroll costs covered up by Labor and the burden faced by Hospital and Health Boards,” he said.

“Every board has an increased budget in 2012-13, but they are fighting the Labor tradition of chronic over-expenditure and carrying the burden of the dysfunctional Labor payroll,” he said.


Mr Springborg said that of $1.25billion lost in the payroll debacle, $537 million was unfunded over the next five years and the majority would have to be found through efficiencies in hospital and health services.

“We will continue to fight to reduce the impact of this disaster,” the minister said. “But on the figures from KPMG, a $150m impost equates to 1500 full-time positions. This is the same estimated number of over-establishment full-time staff employed in Queensland Hospital and Health Services at the change of Government.

“Hospital and Health Boards will work with their employees to reach these targets with priority given to natural attrition, the abolition of vacant positions, voluntary redundancies and redeployment.

“Depending on the measures they employ, this will cost Hospital and Health Services up to 1537 FTEs.”