Union organiser Michael Kearns was in the forefront of the march which began outside local member Andrew Stoner’s office in Elbow St before proceeding along the footpath to Riverside Park where the group were addressed by the union, Greens candidate for Oxley Carol Vernon and Country Labour Party candidate for Oxley Fran Armitage.

HSU organisers were in Kempsey last month leading a protest at the Kempsey Hospital against any changes to the way medical imaging services are delivered to patients.

At present medical imaging, such as x-rays is conducted by hospital staff and assessed by private medical company Health Imaging Services.

In Port Macquarie Hospital medical imaging is entirely conducted by the same company.

HSU NSW secretary Gerard Hayes says the service should not be fully privatised.

“Once you go down the track of having one private provider profit and costs become the main driver and quality and service suffers,” Mr Hayes said.

The Mid North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD) is currently assessing possible changes to the services at Kempsey Hospital.

Speaking after last month’s hospital protest MNCLHD chief executive Stuart Dowrick said that different options as to how best to provide these services were being examined but no decisions had been made.

“The MNCLHD is undertaking a preliminary assessment of all available options for the provision of radiology services at Kempsey District Hospital,” he said.