“It’s come about because of the need for short notice childcare for East Grampians Health Service wanting to get staff into shifts, and we had information that staff wanted to do more work but were short on childcare options,” he said.
Mr Santilli said the health service was confident by providing the childcare option it would enable more staff to accept shifts at short notice to cover sick leave and other shifts that became available.
“If there’s a shortage on a roster, say for a couple of weeks, we can ask somebody to fill that gap,” he said.
“It’s not meant to take place of childcare per se, because if we block up the spots with people coming too regularly, then you haven’t got the short notice spots.” Mr Santilli said there would also be options for before and after school childcare.
“It makes it easier for everybody, and what it means is we don’t have to get so many agency nurses, which costs the organisation a lot of money,” he said.
“The hospital is underwriting the positions to make sure it’s open all the time, but once the position is filled, the family or the child, with all the subsidies and all that kick in, and that pays for the position.
“We’ve committed to underwriting positions to keep the centre open, even if there’s only one or two kids here, we’ll pay for the extra places until they get filled.”
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