Time will tell if Healthscope can deliver

ALL eyes will be on private pathology provider Healthscope, which has vowed to maintain high-quality services in Bendigo.Bendigo Health yesterday announced the company would receive a five-year contract to take over the public hospital’s pathology services.Four senior figures visited Bendigo yesterday to meet existing pathology staff and Bendigo Health officials.The company has guaranteed jobs to all pathology staff and committed to maintaining wages.Healthscope has also promised to bulk bill and perform post-mortems in Bendigo.The question has never been about the quality of work of Bendigo Health’s pathology department.If anything, it has fallen victim to ever-increasing costs and greater demand on services.Reform of the health sector is crucial to ensure the funding model is correct.Public pathology providers across the state are struggling to compete with private providers and Bendigo has been no different.Only time will tell if Healthscope can deliver what it has promised.It is all well and good to promise the world but if the company doesn’t deliver it will hurt not only pathology staff but the broader community.The union representing medical scientists and Labor MPs yesterday vented their frustration at the privatisation.They feared staff would lose their jobs, conditions would be slashed and quality would suffer.Let’s hope this isn’t the case.Let’s hope Healthscope can deliver for our community like it has promised.