CAIRNS MP Gavin King has been accused of spinning a government survey that shows less than half of the Far North’s health staff believe their department is a great place to work, and is a well-managed organisation.
Mr King and the city’s two other LNP MPs, David Kempton and Michael Trout, have released results from a 2014 internal survey of 1100 Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service staff.
The trio said the survey, carried out by independent research consultants ORC International, showed “overwhelm-ingly positive” staff attitudes.
Staff role clarity and goal alignment (87 per cent), and job engagement and satisfaction (77 per cent), were among the highest rating results in the report.
However in key areas nominated as survey items with “the most positive change”, CHHHS workers rated their workplace very poorly:
■ 36 per cent believed their organisation was well-managed
■ 39 per cent believed their organisation was committed to developing its employees
■ 45 per cent recommended their organisation as a great place to work
■ 48 per cent believed management was willing to act on suggestions to improve how things were done
■ 50 per cent agreed with the way their organisation tried to achieve its goals.
The survey results also show 93 per cent of respondents were willing to put in the extra effort to get their job done.
The report was released in response to health unions’ questionnaire that found more than 90 per cent of local health workers believed staff morale was declining. Health workers at a union rally on Monday spoke out about working regular 16-hour shifts in under-resourced departments.
When questioned about the internal survey, Mr King, in a statement, said The Cairns Post was “cherrypicking” statistics to push a certain negative line about staff sentiment towards the local health system.
“When taken in its entirety, the internal 2014 staff survey does reflect an overwhelmingly positive increase in staff attitude towards the hospital and health service when compared with staff sentiment during Labor’s $1.25 billion health payroll scandal and when compared to a similar survey in 2013,’’ he said.
The 2013 findings from this section ranged from 25 per cent (“my organisation is well-managed”) to 38 per cent (“I agree with the way my organisation tries to achieve its goals”).
Mr King said this showed “fantastic improvements.”
“These results will only continue to improve,’’ he said.
Together Union Cairns organiser Dr Sandy Donald said to describe the internal survey results “overwhelmingly positive” was fanciful.
“The Government keeps reporting better numbers, but there are increasing concerns about how some of them are produced,’’ he said.
He said staff morale had been deteriorating.
“Many frontline staff lost their jobs in 2013,’’ he said.
“Admin staff in clinics were particularly targeted, causing absolute chaos with surgical books and referrals.
“Reports from members suggest that the processing of referrals just about stopped.”
He said staff were terrified to speak out about any issues they had.
“Following the standing down of two senior doctors, many health employees are too afraid of reprisals to raise any concerns at all,’’ he said.
Source: Cairns Post