UPDATE: Australian Clinical Laboratories has issued an statement.
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“Since Australian Clinical Labs acquired St John of God Pathology in October 2016, the business has reviewed its data entry and courier operations and identified duplicated roles within both businesses.
“Clinical Labs is working closely with the impacted employees to find suitable alternate positions within the organisation and support them through this difficult time with professional support. In the case where an employee is redeployed within the organisation, redundancy is not applicable.
“Clinical Labs is committed to continuing to service the communities in Ballarat and the central west and we will maintain a presence in the region through our laboratories and collection centres. The change to data entry will have no impact to the services we provide patients and doctors.
“The company has called for expressions of interest for voluntary redundancies from couriers from both organisations in the central west region however these are expected to be less than 10.”
EARLIER: Fourteen Ballarat pathology data entry staff, some of whom have careers spanning 40 years, will be made redundant later this year from St John of God Pathology.
The pathology service, which is now owned by Australian Clinical Labs and has no affiliation with St John of God Health Care, informed the staff of the decision to centralise its services on Monday.
The data entry staff processed pathological specimens for Australian Clinical Labs across the region. A staff member said the redundancies will also likely affect 10 couriers who deliver the samples around the pathology unit centres.
A letter from the company handed to the affected workers said an opportunity to centralise inpatient and outpatient work had been identified.
“To facilitate this operational change, all Victorian based in-patient entry data will be completed in Geelong and all outpatient entry data will be completed in Malaysia,” the letter reads.
Seven of the 14 jobs currently in Ballarat will be removed entirely, with the other seven possibly relocated somewhere else in Australia.
A staff member speaking to The Courier on the condition of anonymity said the staff employed at St John of God Pathology had worked for in the sector for periods ranging from 43 years to just one.
Important patient information such as Medicare and credit card details will now be sent overseas, said the staff member.
All the positions were held by women; some of them are single mothers, said the employee.
Secretary of the Victorian Medical Scientists Association Paul Elliott says the closure of regional pathology labs because they are ‘not profitable’ may lead to patient safety issues in smaller regional hospitals.
Mr Elliott, who is working with the staff affected by redundancy across the region, said the issue of the closures should be pursued by the state government.
“The closing of these pathology labs means a downgrading of safety,” said Mr Elliott.
“Hospitals can choose not to offer clinical services such as obstetrics, or offer them without adequate pathological support. We need to remember that pathology labs offer such vital services as blood placement. It’s not a matter of just getting a packet of blood off the shelf.”
Clinical Labs Australia has confirmed that the positions are being made redundant. The first round will be completed by May 21 and the second by July 28. The Courier is awaiting a detailed response from the company.