ABOUT 350 Newcastle state government health workers fearing for their jobs will learn about their futures today when senior management visits from Sydney.
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Mike Rillstone, the chief executive of Health Support Services, will head a delegation of managers addressing staff in two meetings today at his organisation's King Street, Newcastle, office.
The King Street office and a similar operation in Parramatta are responsible for managing the payrolls and other financial concerns for the state's nine area health services.
The Newcastle Herald was alerted yesterday to concerns that an organisational restructure could result in the Newcastle office closing, with its functions to be taken over by Parramatta.
Health Services Union organiser Bob Hull acknowledged his members were worried about such a possibility, but said the union had been assured this would not be the case.
"About six weeks ago [Health Support Services] said it was restructuring senior management and that it would only affect the top two tiers, or about 10 people in Newcastle, but now they have expanded that to the next two tiers, which takes in about 25 people," Mr Hull said yesterday.
He said the government still had a policy of no forced redundancies but said Health Support Services was closing three northern NSW warehouses to centralise those functions at Cardiff, so it was not surprising that King Street staff were concerned about their futures.
In a statement yesterday, Health Support Services said changes in senior management would have no impact on staff numbers and the Newcastle service centre would remain open, providing full services.
"The visit by chief executive Mike Rillstone is to give this personal assurance to Newcastle staff and to answer their questions," a spokeswoman said.
