By XAVIER SMERDON
EIGHT graduate midwives that looked like they would be searching for a new job because of funding cuts at Werribee Mercy Hospital have all been offered part-time positions.
As reported by Star last week, the midwives were told they would not be given a job at the hospital because of budget cuts.
But Star understands they have since been offered the opportunity to stay on in a part-time capacity.
The news comes as a spokesperson for the hospital said the full effect of the funding cuts, including the number of beds that would be closed, would not be known for some time.
A spokesperson for the hospital said management was still crunching the numbers and could not put a time frame on when the full effects of the funding cuts would be released.
Last week Star reported that hospital staff had been warned Mercy Public Hospitals had been told to slash its budget by $3 million.
Meanwhile, operating theatres across the Western and Sunshine Hospitals will shut down for a month and 550 elective surgeries will be cancelled as a multi-million dollar funding cut takes its toll.
Western Health, which oversees the Western, Sunshine and Williamstown hospitals, last week announced the elective surgery cuts as it tries to accommodate the flow-on effect of a $6.46 million mid-financial year Federal budget cut.
From 4 March 2013 there will be a further reduction in surgical activity across Western Health, including four weeks of theatre closures across Western and Sunshine Hospitals at varying intervals between March and May.
