"These are serious problems which I have been speaking out about now for quite a while and recently we received a letter from social workers at the Janeway confirming our fears," said Butler. "The letter is evidence that children are not getting the medical attention they need because of problems and inaction in the Minister’s department.

"Following the resignation of Elizabeth Marshall, the Premier said he reserves the right to intervene in any department when he sees fit. I can’t think of any situation that would be more serious and the Minister is obviously unable to deal with the problems. It is now time for the Premier to get involve here."

The letter to the Director of Income Support was written on behalf of the social workers at the Janeway Child Health Centre and expresses concerns regarding the difficulties they have encountered over the last several months in obtaining services for patients and families on income support.

The letter said, "Clients are becoming more and more stressed and frustrated because of their inability to access their client services officer, which has resulted in delays in provision of needed services. Health Care social workers are experiencing these same problems and although a number of verbal complaints have been made there has been no improvement in service delivery."

"The Minister has been trying to say no problems exist and she has been giving the impression that adequate resources are being allocated to deal with these problem. This letter is further evidence that there are serious problems here that still need to be addressed," said Butler.