Tough Love

Our Queensland premier is Campbell Newman.  I liked him when he was Mayor of Brisbane and I like him even more now that he has joined the Liberal National Party, or LNP as it is also known.  We, in Queensland were governed by a Labour Party for more years than I care to remember and throughout those years we have seen Queensland go from having a credit rating of AAA to AA.  Most folks would not give that much thought, but to put it in simple terms it means that the interest rate on the money that the state has borrowed goes up dramatically i.e. an extra $100 million in debt repayments (click on this link to really scare the socks off you) 

Campbell Newman came into power with a BIG problem, namely a HUGE state debt.  He has tackled this with tough love and one of his most unfavourable moves has been to cut jobs.  Tonight on ABC news we saw a demonstration outside the Townsville Hospital.  The demonstrators were complaining about the job losses within the hospital.  I am going to give you my story on Townsville Hospital. 

In 2005 I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.  Quite scary.  It meant an operation to remove the cancer, another operation to remove infected lymph nodes followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy.  An intense six month treatment.  My radiation therapy was to be a dose a day for five days a week over six weeks,  at the Townsville Hospital.  

My memories of the first trip to the Townsville Hospital go like this.  

• Park in a designated area  -  that was terrific as car parks were very scarce
• Present myself to the "check-in" counter.  Yes, my name, address, medicare # are all correct
• Present myself to another "check-in" counter (inside the radiation area).  Yes, my name, address medicare# are all correct
• Present myself to a nurse.  Yes, my name, address, medicare #, are all correct
• Go and wait for your name to be called
• Whooppee!  My name is called.  Again, check my name, address, medicare # and YES they are all correct.

Are you getting the picture?  Townsville Hospital was over administered, so good on you Campbell Newman for recognising that fact.    Look, I would be the first to defend the jobs of nurses.  They are vital to our hospital system and I would like to see MORE of them employed.   God knows we need them.  

I really want to emphasise that this is my experience at Townsville Hospital and no other.

PS

The second trip for radiation I decided to go straight to the nurse instead of "checking in" at two counters.  I was politely told to go  back and "check-in" correctly.  I did.