Health Services Union organiser for South-Western Sydney/Southern NSW Joshua Howarth was part of a meeting which took place on September 23 with union members and staff at Bowral and District Hosiptal.

The meeting was called to discuss the implications of entering a public and private partnership (PPP).

Mr Howarth said the information given to staff from NSW health was incorrect.

“They’re saying PPPs are already operating in the health sector, and their poster hospital is Royal North Shore,” he said.

“What they’re failed to tell employees is that the government, in the past two-and-a-half months, have paid out the private operator and the hospital is now under government control.”

He said going into a PPP resulted in staff cuts and reduced salaries at hospitals.

“With PPPs we’ve seen, after the first two years, they can reduce salaries by up to 30 per cent and cut 25 per cent of the workforce so they can pay stakeholders,” he said.

“These are clearly indicators that a PPP is a risky business to implicate.”

Mr Howarth was worried the standard of care at Bowral Hospital would also diminish.

“The relationship they’re selling us is that any services brought in by the private sector will be available to public patients, but this isn’t entirely true.

“Public patients would have to pay for special treatment at a private hospital upfront, it wouldn’t be covered by public health.”

Mr Howarth does not know where the $50 million promised to the hospital will be spent, as he said the union and staff have not been consulted.

“They’re supposed to liaise with unions and employees, but they haven’t, so we are unable to see exactly what the money will be spent on,” he said.

“This government and health minister are closing the book to any form of consultation [with us].”

Mr Howarth said the union members planned to hold a series of rallies in Bowral protesting a PPP.