14 November 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

Significant savings with lab services out-sourcing

Environment Canterbury has reviewed the way it undertakes water quality and other laboratory analysis and has decided to outsource all lab work to Hills Laboratories.

“After a review of the lab services was completed there was an indication that potential savings could be achieved should an external provider be used, that wouldn’t lessen the levels of service currently enjoyed,” says Environment Canterbury Chief Executive Bill Bayfield.

“We invited tenders from companies which could provide the services we required and which could cope with the volume of work from us, then compared these with the in-house services we’ve used until now. This showed us the significant savings we could make by outsourcing this work.”

Six staff will be affected by this decision and they have been offered employment through until Christmas to allow continuity of lab services until the changeover and to assist with that transition. They will also be involved in the decommissioning of the Environment Canterbury laboratory.

“While outsourcing laboratory services makes good financial sense I am also very mindful of the human side to the decision,” says Mr Bayfield. “We have been having discussions with the lab staff about their options; providing the details they need to help them through this process and listening to their request for speedy decision making so they could get clarity on their future.”

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>