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UPDATE, 6.15pm: The Fair Work Commission has delivered Bendigo Health laboratory staff a last-minute reprieve, putting off terminations planned for tomorrow.
A Medical Scientists Association of Victoria spokesman, whose union sought to prevent the terminations, described the decision as a positive one and called on the Victorian government to save microbiology jobs in Bendigo.
"The principal issue the union is pursuing, that the lab should be kept in Bendigo, we are still pursuing, and pursuing vigorously,” the spokesman said.
EARLIER: Scientists at Bendigo Health will refuse to perform urgent microbiology testing after senior staff leave the laboratory tomorrow, due to concerns about the loss of specialist knowledge.
The Medical Scientists Association of Victoria says the union has been advised by private pathology provider Australian Clinical Labs it intends to go ahead with the microbiologists’ termination on Friday and is seeking an order to prevent the move before the Fair Work Commission this afternoon.
An ACL spokeswoman has previously said urgent microbiology testing would continue to be done on site in Bendigo but MSAV secretary Paul Elliott said there was a “real danger” the loss of the senior scientists would leave the laboratory without staff qualified to perform the work safely.
“Some scientists are saying they won’t do it, they’re not comfortable to and they don’t want to be directed to do it for patient safety reasons, they don’t want to be forced into having performed tests that they’re not satisfied they’ve been completely trained to do,” he said.
“Some are saying they will not guarantee that they are prepared to do this testing and there’s every likelihood they won’t.”
Mr Elliott said while the remaining scientists had previously performed the testing under the supervision of the senior staff, they did not feel comfortable conducting the work alone.
“You wouldn’t want a brain surgeon doing your heart surgery, the same applies to scientists within the various disciplines, they are skilled and trained in those various disciplines and to be able to work competently within the various disciplines you need to have that level of skill and training,” he said.
A confidential source associated with the lab told the Bendigo Advertiser that while remaining staff already performed urgent microbiology testing out of hours, the dedicated microbiologists were previously still on call to provide advice.
“You’ve got that reassurance of knowing you’ve got specialist advice nearby where you can just ring up and have a chat to get some reassurance and you can actually call someone in to get a second opinion and that’s really important,” they said.
“If you’re going to make a decision about whether someone’s got meningitis you want to be certain.”
The source said one of the remaining staff had not dealt with a microbiology sample for a decade, while another junior pathologist had been forced to take a photo through the lens of a microscope to get a second opinion when a local microbiologist was not available to consult.
“This is the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a small country hospital, but you wouldn’t expect to see it in a town the size of Bendigo with a new hospital which is supposed to be expanding,” they said.
“How is that fair on the people who live here?”
The source also disputed ACL’s assurances the changes would not affect turnaround times, saying the single courier available at weekends meant it could be “a good 24 hours” before a sample was transferred to Melbourne, which could impact length of stay.
A spokeswoman for Bendigo Health said the employment of the microbiologists was a matter for ACL but the hospital would put in place a robust monitoring framework, overseen by a steering group which included senior medical staff, to ensure ACL continued to deliver a high quality service.
“Safer Care Victoria is still awaiting some of the information that it requested in terms of being able to ascertain the safety of the service,” Department of Health and Human services spokesman Graeme Walker said.
The Bendigo Health spokeswoman said the hospital was working closely with its senior medical staff and SCV to ensure the changes proposed by ACL were safe.
“Discussions are continuing with Safer Care Victoria and this remains a matter of urgency for Bendigo Health,” she said.
A spokeswoman for ACL said the company anticipated affected employees who were not redeployed to other roles outside Bendigo would leave the company “within the next week” and no concerns had been raised with management.
“The core laboratory staff are familiar with urgent microbiology testing as they regularly perform these tests,” she said.
“Clinical Labs is committed to providing staff with ongoing training and access to qualified pathologists to ensure that the people of Bendigo continue to receive high quality pathology services.”