Full details of Healthscope’s vision for Bendigo Health will be in tomorrow’s Bendigo Advertiser.

Update

BENDIGO Health’s new pathology providers have vowed to retain all existing staff and improve services.Hospital chief John Mulder today announced Healthscope Pathology would receive a five-year performance-based contract to take over pathology services.Senior Healthscope figures met with Bendigo Health’s pathology staff today to discuss the take-over, which is due to occur in May.“Our immediate concern is to maintain employment, maintain a range of testing and ensure the status quo so there is no disruption to staff and patients,” chief operating officer Nick Champness said.“Long-term we see this as a strategic decision. We have a void in our regional Victorian spread and this fills that gap for us and allows us to provide more consistent and comprehensive services for the wider geographic region adjacent to Bendigo.“We are quality-driven.”Healthscope has an existing laboratory at Castlemaine, which Mr Champness said would remain open.

Earlier

HEALTHSCOPE have been selected to take over pathology services at Bendigo Health despite an on-going campaign to keep them in-house.Bendigo Health chief executive officer John Mulder said there would be no job losses.“We have also consulted closely with the expert reference group to guide us in this decision and it agrees that Healthscope offers high quality, a comprehensive range of services and best value for money," he said.“Healthscope has committed to a five year performance based contract guaranteeing that high quality services will be delivered in an efficient manner. The contract includes very detailed and stringent performance criteria that must be met for Healthscope to receive payment for services rendered.“There will be no job losses for our staff and no loss of quality, decrease in service or additional costs to our community, as Healthscope has confirmed that bulk billing will continue,” Mr Mulder said.“Every member of the existing Bendigo Health pathology services team has been offered a job with Healthscope, right here in Bendigo.“I explained to the team that under their own in-house proposal, significant redundancies would have resulted and this was a key determinant in the final decision."Healthscope has made a commitment to fund education and research activities within the pathology and mortuary services, including post mortems which will continue to be performed in Bendigo.Last week the Bendigo Advertiser revealed Bendigo Health had a short list of two private companies, Healthscope and Dorevitch Pathology, to take over pathology services.Healthscope has a presence in every Australian state and is among the largest pathology providers in New Zealand and Singapore.The company also has outlets in Malaysia, Borneo and Brunei.Hospital officials launched a review of pathology because the service cost about twice that of other regional centres.