r/AusPublicService • u/Ecstatic-Slice-7153 • 5d ago
NSW NSW Health “Optional Realignment Program”
Throwaway account.
All NSW health agencies CE’s sent a coordinated email at 3pm today announcing applications are open for non-frontline health staff to self nominate for voluntary redundancy.
Limited details available but:
- CEs decide if applications should be accepted for VR
- positions immediately deleted
- separation will be no later than 15 January 2027
- standard VR package and rules
- unions were all aware it was coming
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u/Famous_Truck_3406 4d ago
G’day colleague! I received the email too. It’s not a surprise as recruitment has pretty much ground to a halt for 12 months. We had a few redundancies in my branch 6 months ago (maybe “our”branch if we work in same team). Only recruitment in my branch over last 12 months has been internal EOIs for a few months.
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u/ConversationKnown101 3d ago
Once the digital platform is completely rolled out I suspect there would be many more on offer as well.
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u/Fluffy_Variation2978 4d ago
As usual, they won't touch frontline staff, they think Corporate is the only way to save money. So the corporate staff wear the cost of downsizing, someone else will need to do the work, so it will go external and cost more money.
Always a false economy. Corporate staff usually run on the smell of an oily rag anyway, and rarely have the resources they need to do the job anyway. Bloody joke.
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u/screaming_into 4d ago
Don’t let it be an us vs them in health. Both are run on the smell of an oily rag, they just can’t cut frontline services anymore or too many people will die.
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u/Fluffy_Variation2978 4d ago
It is not us vs them. But one doesn't survive without the other. Corporate is always the first to get cut and the last one to get additional budgets and staff. Because it isn't sexy trying to sell - hey look at all the new mechanics NSW Ambulance employed this year! Cut corporate and it will be the frontline staff who bear the impact.
This is classic short term politics.
There are plenty of expensive and inefficient clinical programs out there costing millions to the bottom line, but they don't cut them.
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u/Cuz1961 3d ago
Agreed - I don't know how many people work at the SOC but there is a heap of "clinical programs" and indeed "groups/departments" at the SOC that cost a lot - seem very well staffed but seem to produce zero. Each has a name but try an figure out what they do! Then you have the team looking after the clinical guidelines everyday paramedics rely on daily - there is just two people to do all that - plus volunteers and suitable duties staff (injured paramedics). Need a cull so we can refocus on the essentials. Clinical research, guidelines, patient safety, and equipment.
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u/Darth-Crumb 3d ago
A lot of the time wastage for teams at the SOC is in the appalling systems (or lack of systems) that NSWA has. Something that should take me 5 min takes an hour because I have to check multiple programs and databases instead of one single point of truth. It's insane. Thats where they need to invest money not in cutting the admin staff that are doing their best to keep up. I already work 9.5 hour days and now I'm going to be expected to pick up more work?
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u/Best_Class_3052 4d ago
Sorry, have to disagree. When I was at MoH last year there were more than a few folks sitting around doing sweet FA as things got caught in entirely created bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Front line is an entirely different matter, much more likely to be run off their feet
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u/Darth-Crumb 4d ago
That maybe true at MoH, but it isn't true for the majority of corp positions across NSW Health. In my agency we are already significantly understaffed with dangerously high workloads. If we get any more added to the pile there will be massive hikes in workers comp premiums due to burnout. It's already insane.
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u/fnadobando 3d ago
Is it normal for the teams to work ling hours? I saw it was a 38h working week and thought it wouldn't be much more than that, my brother used to be at MOH and he was very close to that 38h mark each week.
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u/Darth-Crumb 3d ago
I work 9.5 hour days. Some of my colleagues also work weekends just to stay on top of things. It's insane and it's only going to get worse.
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u/fnadobando 3d ago
Where do you work?
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u/pornomatique 3d ago
MOH is 35 hours. The fact that he was working 38h means he was doing overtime.
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u/Due_Still6583 2d ago
They get flex time. I’m a state govnt employee as well in a front lone role. Corporate doesnt know shit.
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u/Darth-Crumb 9h ago
Depends on the Award. Under the Award I'm on we don't get flex time, however we do work an additional 30min a day unpaid to get a paid day off each month. The extra hours worked over the 38 hours per week are all unpaid.
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u/Due_Still6583 4d ago
Should be a rule that to get a role in corporate the candidate needs to have done 3 years frontline. I work in another frontline service
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u/Fluffy_Variation2978 2d ago
That would be a disaster.
Finance? Great job having clinical staff ruling the world of finance. We've seen the impacts of those disasters before.
Same for asset management. Maintenance. ICT. Putting people with frontline experience into corporate roles, even people who are good managers, is a really bad way of doing business. You want people who are experts in their field. Which is fine if a clinician goes out of their way to learn the corporate side of things from the ground up. More frequently we seem to stick good clinical managers into corporate roles they have NFI how to do.
Unfortunately health (NSW Health amongst others) tends not to learn the lessons of the past.
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u/Embarrassed-Heron894 21h ago
Totally agree. I’ve seen basic nurses get specialist business analyst roles, asset management.. and they spend no money on tech except basic IT personnel. The whole system is crumbling within itself, no wonder real experts don’t want to work within a sludge built on sludge system pile up.
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u/Due_Still6583 2d ago
Its a clusterfuck in its present state. We have a health system run by accountants who have no idea about the chaos their decisions cause because they have no knowledge of the system. Its actually easy to train an accountant. In the UK they don’t even require an accounting degree. They are trained on the job.
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u/Fluffy_Variation2978 2d ago
UK is the same as Australia as far as accountants are concered. If you want to be a chartered accountant in the UK, that does - quite rightly - require formal qualifications. Same in Australia for a CPA.
Maybe we should go the other way around and make it mandatory for nurses, paramedics and doctors to work for 3 years in corporate services before touching a patient. That way clinicians might have a clue about how things work in the real world.
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u/Due_Still6583 2d ago
No the UK is not. Someone with a 2.1 honours degree in history can undertake a training contract to become an accountant. There is no requirement for the degree to be in accounting. The same goes for law. Its clear you don’t know what you are talking about. Clinicians are dealing with patients. The purpose of the health system is to treat patients. Explain how an accountant doing monthly reconciliations has a better real work understanding of how the health system works. They don’t.
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u/Fluffy_Variation2978 2d ago edited 2d ago
Remember above I said Chartered Accountant? "Accountant" is not a protected term in the UK. Nor in Australia. But a Chartered Accountant in the UK is a different story. As per the link.
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u/Due_Still6583 2d ago
Not according to the body which actually gives out the CA accreditation https://www.icas.com/become-a-chartered-accountant/how-to-become-a-chartered-accountant-ca/icas-ca-qualification-for-graduates
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u/Vickiover 4d ago
What is the maths on working out how you get
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u/Darth-Crumb 3d ago
The FAQ on the MoH website shows you how to calculate an estimation. You just need to know your weekly rate and years of service.
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u/Short-Action-275 2d ago
The thing I always wonder about with these programs is what happens to the work after people leave.
If positions disappear but the workload doesn't, surely someone needs to assess the impact on everyone who's left?
Particularly when people are already saying they're stretched. I'd be interested to know whether workload and psychosocial risks are actually being assessed as part of the process, rather than afterwards when people start burning out.
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u/Butt_Lick4596 1d ago
Maybe the execs will suddenly realise that systems are outdated and the workload will be chopped in half once they listen to staff suggestions to modernise. That will solve the issue
/s since this is just a pipe dream
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u/Best_Class_3052 4d ago
Interesting! Some agencies appear to be expanding though so maybe it'll be more of a redeployment activity
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u/pixietrue1 5d ago
Did the unions warn the workers who are with them?
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u/0xC0FFEEADD1C7ED 4d ago
I got an email from the HSU precsely 1.5 hours after the email from my CE (or rather, their EA - because clicking the send button in outlook is hard work 🙄).
The link referred to in the quoted email links to a detailed PDF on a public facing CDN site which I think is associated with the HSU, but I won't post the link as I don't know if it's a unique/trackable link or not (lotta hexadecimal stuff in the link though lol).
I don't think I'd be doing anything wrong since it's gone out to all union members but the documents is on an official NSWHealth letterhead with "official sensitive" sensitivity labelling applied and "confidential" watermarks across each page so can't be too careful about potentially outing myself, starting to feel as distrustful of my union as much as my employer these days TBH.
Happy to share the pdf though if someone can advise of a decent place I can upload it (apologies - I haven't posted on reddit in probably 8 years at least, and not as "internetty" as I used to be).
NSW Health Announces Operational Realignment Program
Dear member,
Today NSW Health has announced that it will be embarking on an "Operational Realignment Program" that involves making offers of voluntary redundancies to non-frontline NSW Health employees. Employees interested in applying for a voluntary redundancy package will need to apply through an EOI process that will be open from 15 October to 6 November 2026.
NSW Health has made two important commitments in this program of voluntary redundancies: 1. No employee will be forced out of their job; and 2. No position will be made redundant if it will negatively impact front-line services. The Health Services Union will be continuously engaging with NSW Health to ensure that members' interests are heard and protected throughout, and after this process.
NSW Health employees who provide frontline care as part of their role are not eligible for a voluntary redundancy. For the purposes of this program, NSW Health is defining frontline staff as: “employees who provide direct patient care, deliver health services, or work in roles that directly support the delivery of patient care and clinical services.”
This includes clinical staff such as paramedics and allied health professionals, as well as support roles based within care settings, such as ward clerks, patient services staff, and health care assistants.
If you wish to know if you are eligible for a voluntary redundancy, please follow the NSW Health process. If you have any questions about your rights during this process please contact the Health Services Union Member Services team on 1300 478 679.
The Ministry of Health have produced a Frequently Asked Questions document which is linked here.
In unity, Gerard Hayes AM Secretary, HSU NSW/ACT/QLD
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u/pornomatique 3d ago
The PSA hasn't sent out peep. Given a lot of corporate is part of the PSA and not the HSU, pretty disappointing.
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u/LadyTeez 1d ago
I asked chatgpt to give me an estimate using the criteria given including tax rules for redundancies etc & it gave me $160k after tax (includes my AL & LSL payout) - noting that i’m a longstanding employee of 28 years. If it was you, would you take this package?
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u/Next_Note4785 1d ago
You need to speak to a professional. What does your super look like? Are you in a financially sound position to retire? Find work? If your department was to be restructured are you confident you would be kept on or redeployed? Does that even interest you?
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u/LadyTeez 22h ago
I’m looking for a financial advisor. Never had to before so it’s all new to me & so hard to trust anyone these days. Super balance is currently $280k. My plan would be to take the package. Rest a few weeks and find another job in private sector. Still have a mortgage balance of $196k, & another 10 years of work life to go.
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u/Next_Note4785 9h ago
Be aware that the job market is cold at the moment. So depending on your skill set this could be a huge risk.
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u/Eightstream 5d ago
My wife was looking at it. The sweetener is capped at 8 weeks pay, it’s a bit rubbish. If you didn’t specifically want out it’s not much of an incentive.