Leanne Castley wants ACT government to explore bonus payments for health staff

Opposition health spokeswoman Leanne Castley will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday calling on the government to do more to retain and value front-line workers.

Ms Castley said recent figures showed more than 1300 staff had left Canberra Health Services over the past two years.

"What the Labor-Greens government is currently doing to retain staff is clearly not working and that is why the Canberra Liberals are calling for retention bonuses or other incentives to be explored," she said.

The ACT government is in the process of finalising negotiations on an enterprise agreement for health professionals.

Radiographers and radiation therapists have taken part in industrial action over recent weeks saying the government has failed to offer them better pay or conditions on par with other states.

Ms Castley has pointed to this in her motion. She has also highlighted training accreditation issues in units, including obstetrics and gynaecology, cardiology, the fetal medicine unit and the child-at-risk health unit.

"It has become abundantly clear that the Health Minister and Labor-Greens government is unable or unwilling to address these significant staffing issues that are plaguing our health system and it is time for them to explain how they intend to retain current frontline workers," she said.

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"Our hardworking nurses, doctors and midwives deserve much better than what they are currently getting under this Labor-Greens government and they are crying out for a proper retention strategy that will go towards not only retaining staff but valuing them."

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the government would amend the motion. She did not explicitly say whether the government would explore bonuses but said the government was continuing to negotiate with unions through the union agreement process.

"We already have a workforce strategy and we've almost finalised an action plan in relation to that strategy... there's a lot of work going on this space," she said.

Ms Stephen-Smith has previously dismissed calls to offer a bonus to health staff. NSW and Victoria offered bonuses to health staff last year in recognition of their role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic but the territory did not follow suit.

She said, at the time, she was more focused on an overall wage increase rather than the bonus.

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