Nurses and health staff throughout the state stopped work today in protest of the ongoing pay debacle.

Weeks after the rollout of the new $42-million system and the bungle still seems a long way from being fixed.

Aidan Caldwell reports.

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Too little, too late was the message from Queensland Health workers today.

Gay Hawkesworth, Qld Nurses Union: “No more handouts. We just want to see you get paid.”

As doctors, nurses and other staff protested state-wide against the continued mismanagement of the Queensland Health payroll system.

After weeks without pay – or being incorrectly paid -Queensland nurses and other health staff have reached boiling point.

Vox worker one: “None of us can read our payslips and they can’t run sessions in that auditorium to get us to understand our payslips.”

While Queensland health workers vented their anger and frustrations, Health Minister Paul Lucas could not establish a date when the payroll system would be fixed.

Paul Lucas, Health Minister: “The immediate priority is to get people paid properly as soon as we can and then we will have a look at how we can make the system run better and then we want to look at frankly how with proper implementation we don’t have the problems we had with this one.”

Many believe the government is simply not doing enough to fix the problem.

Dr Mason Stevenson, AMAQ President: “It just shows the gravity of the problem because the problem is a long way from being fixed despite all the resources and all the rhetoric.”

Meanwhile life keeps getting harder and harder for those most affected by the debacle.

Vox worker two: “There was a Queensland Reds, came here, they had a big opening ceremony and everything – everyone got free bloody cakes and coffee and we’re queuing up at the canteen to pay for it. This is outrageous.”

Aidan Caldwell QUT News