And the workers employed at the Forest Road warehouse of Healthshare won’t be the only ones to lose out from the privatisation of this distribution of medical supplies.

The news on Tuesday that the contract to distribute medical supplies to the region had been awarded to a Sydney-based contractor inevitably raised concerns about the level of service which will be provided if there is no warehouse presence here.

The workers and their union fear a move away from the Orange supply hub will leave hospitals without a back-up supply if local shortages occur.

It is a risk which would not have to be taken but for the Coalition’s relentless drive for claimed efficiencies through privatisation.

Time will tell whether a Sydney-based supply can function as well and reliably as a regional network but a judgment can be made now about how the workers and the Coalition’s own MP have been treated.

The verdict unfortunately is that the process has been handled pretty poorly.

Despite weeks of negotiation between the workers, their union, MP Andrew Gee and the office of Health Minister Jillian Skinner, the end came swiftly with a new contract catching both Mr Gee and the workers off guard.

And while NSW Health was ready to announce the new contract local management were not in a position to tell workers exactly how long they would have jobs.

Mr Gee’s reaction to the treatment of the workers was understandable but he conceded there was little chance of the decision being reversed.

The result will be jobs lost here and elsewhere in regional NSW at a time when the state government knows the list of looming redundancies is growing.

It is a development which can only raise questions about the nature of the coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals in NSW.