January 29, 2022

COVID-19

Time to tell the truth: We aren’t coping

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I know the situation in hospitals and aged care facilities is incredibly tough and I’ve heard from members how frustrated and angry you’re feeling right now.

We are absolutely right to be furious with the NSW and Federal governments. Their actions and inactions have led us to this. Their persistence in saying the system is coping reveals a complete disregard for the truth. 

It is outrageous that NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet continues to spin the lie that our public healthcare system is ‘strong’. He repeats this lie while you are exhausted, working excessive overtime and still remain short-staffed. Patient care is suffering.

It is unforgivable that aged care nurses are struggling to have access to appropriate PPE with many not even fit tested. It is outrageous that the Morrison government asks people to rely on RATs, knowing ordinary working families can’t get access to them. Diabolical that RATs are not available in nursing homes while many aged care residents still await their booster.

The NSWNMA will never stop advocating strongly on your behalf and fighting for improved working conditions across the public, private and aged care systems. Officers, Organisers and Branch officials are continuing to provide support to members concerned about sick leave, COVID isolation requirements, NSW Health directives.

Within January 2022 alone the NSWNMA has been supporting

  • An average of 110 members per day with COVID-19 issues
  • 80% of all member inquries have been related to COVID-19

Key issues raised with the NSWNMA

  • Transmission in the workplace/workers compensation
  • Leave entitlements
  • Members being directed or pressured to return to work while symptomatic
  • PPE advice & Fit-testing and infection control
  • Workloads and Staffing levels
  • Isolation requirements
  • Redeployment
  • Advice on government support payments
  • Successful advocacy around workers’ compensation where a rapid antigen test is now sufficient to lodge a claim, instead of having to rely on a PCR test

I know you are angry, frustrated, fed up, and eager for change. We support the call that many are making for collective action. As your union we are continuing to fight for our members and provide support. I encourage all of you to get active, speak out, share your stories with us. Speak with your branch representatives or NSWNMA organisers to discuss the next steps.

While our health care systems may not be strong right now, nurses and midwives are strong. It is our goodwill holding these systems together and it will be our collective actions that can bring change.

More than ever before nurses and midwives are saying ‘Enough is Enough’ and they’re speaking out.

Since the start of the year, at least 40 members have spoken to media, either speaking on behalf of their branch or anonymously. This has led to hundreds and hundreds of stories on radio, online, TV and in newspapers making sure all our communities know what you are going through right now.

We will continue to ensure nurses and midwives can publicly speak the truth. But it is clear that stating the facts are not enough when we have state and federal governments continuing to deceive. The NSW government is the only one who can fix these problems. We will not forget this, and we will hold them to account.

Information is changing rapidly, and we are updating members through email and social media.

Please remember, if you need support your union is here for you. Do not hesitate to contact us.

In unity,
Shaye Candish
Acting General Secretary
NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association

Public health employee information for COVID-19

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The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association is providing support and advice to any members seeking information regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Join the NSWNMA to ensure you’re covered at work.

If members are concerned their employer is not following these guidelines, the NSWNMA can provide assistance to ensure appropriate measures are in place. Contact us.

Click here for the latest Workforce Advice for NSW Health staff

Click here for the latest WHS Advice for NSW Health staff

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow, it’s important you know your rights and entitlements when it comes to special leave, sick leave and workers’ compensation. The following information applies to nurses and midwives working the NSW public health system.

Check out our Public Health Sector Webinar- COVID-19 and Leave Entitlements Webinar below.

Paid Special Leave provisions for employees (pandemic leave)

With respect to COVID-19, paid special leave of up to 20 days in total may be granted to employees who are unable to work because they are:

  • Self-isolating in line with public health advice due to being a COVID-19 contact (if not symptomatic and not COVID-19 positive)
  • Caring for family members sick with COVID-19
  • Caring for family members due to closure of school/daycare
  • Unable to attend work due to transport disruptions or workplace closure
  • A vulnerable health worker who following completion of a risk assessment is unable to be redeployed to a lower COVID-19 risk environment and is unable to work from home or self-isolation.
  • COVID-19 Vaccination in the particular circumstances described below

Special leave is paid at the base rate (excluding allowances and penalty rates) and should be made available to you before other forms of leave.

After the 20 days total paid special leave has been used, your employer may grant additional NSW Health special leave on a case-by-case basis. If you’ve exhausted your 20 days special leave and you require further special leave, please apply through your employer in the first instance.

Paid Special Leave for casuals

Casual employees are generally not entitled to paid special leave. If a casual is required to self-isolate due to close contact COVID-19 exposure in the workplace, each situation should be considered by the Health agency on a case-by-case basis including such things as:

  • length of the casual engagement and
  • Whether the casual has regular and systemic shifts

Paid special leave may be appropriate for shifts which are already rostered during the self-isolation period.

Paid Special Leave for Vaccination for COVID-19

Health agencies will continue to make arrangements to support employees to access the COVID-19 vaccination whilst on duty, where it is possible to do this and with the need to ensure service delivery is maintained.

If an employee receives the vaccine and experiences an adverse reaction, they may access paid sick leave entitlements. Where sick leave is exhausted, Agency heads may grant special sick leave on a case by case basis.

Employees that receive a COVID-19 Booster vaccination on or after 7 December 2021 are eligible for a special leave payment of two hours per COVID-19 Booster vaccination if unable to be undertaken in work time.

Leave due to COVID-19 positive test

If an employee is sick due to COVID-19 or any other reason, current sick leave entitlements and conditions apply. This includes situations where an employee is:

  • Self-isolating on paid special leave and becomes sick for any reason; at that point the employee should transition onto sick leave.
  • Symptomatic (including a temperature with/ without other symptoms) and requires testing for COVID-19. Sick leave is applicable for the period from where the staff member becomes symptomatic; through to testing and until a negative COVID-19 test result is received by the staff member, regardless of whether the staff member becomes asymptomatic during the period.

Where sick leave is exhausted, your employer may grant additional sick leave on a case-by-case basis. If you’ve exhausted your sick leave due to COVID-19 and you require further sick leave, please apply through your employer in the first instance.

Please read on in case workers compensation rights are applicable to you.

Workers Compensation

If you have contracted COVID-19 and transmission is likely to have occurred in the workplace, you are entitled to make a claim for workers compensation. There is currently a law in place that health workers are presumed to have contracted the virus at work or while working (something the NSW Government is trying to overturn), it should be workers compensation. Whilst you may be placed on sick leave initially, this should be recredited when your workers compensation claim is accepted.

For advice on what steps to take if you believe you are eligible for workers’ compensation, please read the Workers Compensation section found on this page.

Isolation exemption

On 31 December, the NSW Health Minister signed an exemption to the Public Health Order in an attempt to alleviate widespread staffing shortages across the healthcare system.

Under the change, asymptomatic workers in public and private hospitals who are close contacts of a positive COVID-19 case will be allowed to leave self-isolation and return to work, if they are identified as critical to the service.

This decision is not without risks.

The NSWNMA has urged the Ministry of Health to ensure all necessary steps are taken to protect staff from further exposures.

The rise of COVID-19 cases in the community and in health workers is clearly compromising staffing capacity across the hospital system. The Ministry of Health, guided by the Public Health Unit and the Clinical Excellence Commission, have made these decisions with brief consultation with the health unions.

The NSWNMA will continue advocating for the safety of nurses and midwives but we also recognise your safety and that of your patients is dependent on safe staffing levels, which are clearly unable to be supplied in the current circumstances.

Risk Matrix

NSW Health has updated risk escalation and guidance documents that provide advice for health care workers who have been exposed to COVID-19 in the community or while in the workplace. You can view the latest advice on the Clinical guidance and resources page.

If you have been exposed in the workplace, then your exposure will be assessed based on the PPE you were wearing at the time of the exposure, the nature of the contact and your vaccination status. Further information about how the assessment is made can be found on the NSW Health “Health Care Worker COVID-19 Risk Assessment Matrix” which you can find here.

If you have any questions or concerns about how the matrix works, please contact the Association.

Management of Heat Stress: Outdoor COVID-19 testing clinics

Working in heat can be hazardous. Your employer has an obligation to ensure your safety at work, this includes doing everything reasonably practicable to make sure that you are not exposed to harm from working in heat.

The NSWNMA made representations to NSW Health to ensure risks associated with working in hot conditions are managed appropriately, especially important for nurses working in outdoor COVID-19 testing clinics, where PPE requirements compound the risks of dehydration and heat stress.

NSW Health have since shared resources with Local Health Districts to make sure all appropriate steps are followed. Please refer to the following documents from the NSWNMA, SafeWork NSW and NSW Health:

If you have concerns the measures put in place to protect you from heat stress are inadequate or not being followed correctly, please contact the Association.

COVID-19 testing during paid work hours

The Ministry of Health has advised the NSWNMA that the up to two hours of paid special leave (at base rate of pay) to facilitate vaccinations (C2021-14 Employment Arrangements during COVID-19) will now be made available and extended to booster vaccinations for all government sector workers.

This special leave applies for a COVID-19 booster vaccination received on or after 7 December, 2021.

COVID-19 testing during paid work hours

Wherever possible, NSW Health agencies will facilitate the opportunity for affected NSW Health staff ​​​​​to undertake the required COVID-19 testing during normal working hours.

  • Where the COVID-19 test is available at the site where the staff member usually works, NSW Health agencies will facilitate the opportunity for employed staff to undertake the required testing during a rostered shift or normal working day wherever possible.
  • Where the COVID-19 test is only available at a site that is not the staff member’s usual work location, NSW Health agencies will facilitate wherever possible the release of staff for part of their rostered shift or working day to undertake the required COVID-19 testing at a site where it is available.
  • Where the NSW Health agency determines that neither option listed above is possible, employed staff who attend for the required testing outside of normal working hours will need to be paid for such attendance.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

For detailed advice on PPE, visit this page.

Administration of COVID-19 vaccine

To access FAQs on administering COVID-19 vaccines, click here.

Vaccine preparation and procedure

A number of resources have been developed to support clinicians in the process of preparing vaccines, including labelling requirements. These have been developed separately for both of the vaccines:

Vaccination in work time

Ministry advice is that vaccination for health workers should occur in work time, although it is recognised that when scheduling the second dose it may not align with rosters issued for that day or if scheduled for three months time when the roster is unknown. The Ministry preference for the second dose to occur in work time (rostered shift) but in any event is to be treated as paid time if this is not possible.

Expanding the vaccination workforce

In advice issued 28 June 2021, the NSW Chief Health Officer expanded the classification of registered health professionals who can now assist in administering COVID-19 vaccinations at designated hubs, under appropriate supervision, and provided they have completed identified training. Such professionals will be engaged and remunerated at their relevant classification rate.

This decision makes it possible for certain health professional students to be engaged as ‘Vaccination Workers’ and hired as casuals under the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives’ (State) Award. Rates of pay for these staff will be determind by the Ministry.

The Statewide Protocol for the Supply or Administration of COVID-19 Vaccine sets out the framework and protocol for the supply and administration of vaccines that encompasses this additional workforce.

​As stated by the Ministry of Health, healthcare workers considered for prioritisation in Phase 1a of the vaccination program include:

  • Ambulance and patient transport staff
  • Emergency department staff
  • Critical care ward staff (ICUs and HDUs, ECMO and medical retrieval teams)
  • COVID clinic and COVID testing staff (public and private)
  • COVID ward staff
  • COVID immunisation clinic staff
  • COVID pathology lab staff (public and private)
  • Workers at the Special Health Accommodation facility

Vaccination position statements and supportive evidence

As professional leaders in this area, nurses and midwives can find the NMBA’s position statement on vaccination here.

Ahpra’s position statement on Registered health practitioners and students and COVID-19 vaccination is available to view here.

The National Boards and Ahpra have published a joint statement to help registered health practitioners and students understand what’s expected of them in giving, receiving and advising on and sharing information about COVID-19 vaccines. It can be viewed here.

The ANMF’s policy on vaccination is here.

ANMF Evidence on the COVID vaccine is here.

International Staff Travel for Recreational Purposes

Australian State and Territory borders are subject to varying degrees of quarantine or self-isolation requirements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have been outside Australia in the previous 14 days and return to NSW, you must not go to any high-risk settings, such as aged care, disability care, healthcare, and correctional facilities until you receive a negative result from your day 7 test.

If you choose to travel overseas; regardless of the COVID-19 status of the destination, you will not be granted for example some form of paid special leave to cover your exclusion from the workplace upon return to New South Wales. Staff returning from private overseas travel will need to negotiate access to their own leave entitlements for the 7 day period.

Vulnerable Staff

The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) considers that, based on the limited current evidence, the following people are, or are likely to be, at higher risk of serious illness if they are infected with the virus:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 50 years and older with one or more chronic medical conditions
  • People 65 years and older with chronic medical conditions. Conditions included in the definition of ‘chronic medical conditions’ will be refined as more evidence emerges. The most current list can be accessed on the Department of Health website
  • People 70 years and older
  • People with compromised immune systems (see Department of Health website)

AHPPC recommends that where vulnerable workers undertake essential work, a risk assessment must be undertaken. Risk needs to be assessed and mitigated with consideration of the characteristics of the worker, the workplace and the work. This includes ensuring vulnerable people are redeployed to non-customer based roles where possible. Where risk cannot be appropriately mitigated, employers and employees should consider alternate arrangements to accommodate a workplace absence. In this case, those workers should be able to access the paid special leave (for COVID-19).

AHPPC recommends that special provisions apply to essential workers who are at higher risk of serious illness and, where the risk cannot be sufficiently mitigated, should not work in high risk setting. (AHPPC advice, 30 March 2020)

There is limited evidence regarding the risk in pregnant women. Currently there is no evidence of an increased risk of miscarriage, teratogenicity or vertical transmission of the COVID-19 virus. There is a possibility of an increased incidence of premature birth but there is insufficient evidence at this point in time. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommends that, where possible, pregnant healthcare workers be allocated to patients, and duties that have reduced exposure to patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection.

Further information on PPE

Further information for private health nurses and midwives

The NSWNMA will continue to provide further updates for members as we receive them. Contact us here.

7 tips to get an accurate result on your RAT

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A rapid antigen test detects proteins from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in a sample. You can collect the sample yourself at home using a nasal swab or saliva.

Here’s how to make the most of these rapid antigen tests, and to increase your chance of a meaningful result.

These tips come from analysing instructions on the TGA website about how to use approved rapid antigen tests. Here’s what to consider:

  1. Check the expiry date. Don’t use a test that has expired
  2. Some tests need to be at room temperature for 30 minutes before use. So plan ahead
  3. If you are using a nasal swab, blow your nose before collecting the sample. If using a saliva test, don’t eat or drink 10 minutes before collecting the sample
  4. Avoid contaminating the sample. Regardless of which test you use, instructions can ask you to clean a flat surface; wash or sanitise and dry your hands; and lay out the test items. Never, ever touch the business end of the swab (the soft end that goes in your nose) as you will contaminate it
  5. Follow the instructions on sample collection to the letter. For example, with a nasal swab you will be asked to insert the swab 2cm, rotate the swab five times, and do this in both nostrils. Once you have collected the sample it goes into the chemical solution
  6. Place a set number of drops of the solution on the indicator device. Don’t add extra “for good luck”
  7. Read the results at the exact time recommended. For example, the instructions may ask you to read the result no earlier than 15 minutes after adding the solution and no later than 20 minutes. After 20 minutes the result may no longer be accurate.

What do the coloured lines mean?

Coloured lines on a rapid antigen test to indicate a positive COVID result
Both the C and T lines need to show up for a positive COVID result.

There are two coloured lines to look for. One is a C (the control). This tells you if the test is working properly. The other is a T (test) or Ag (antigen). And it’s the combination of these that gives the result:

  • if the C coloured line fails to show, the test is invalid. The test kit may have expired, or you didn’t take the test correctly
  • if the C coloured line shows and the T (or Ag) line does not, your result is negative (you’re unlikely to have COVID-19)
  • if both the C and T (or Ag) lines show up, your result is positive (you’re likely to have COVID-19).

What next?

If you get a negative result and don’t have symptoms, congratulations! If you have a negative result but have symptoms, take a PCR test to be sure. Avoid contact with others in the meantime.

If you get a positive result, follow up as soon as possible with a PCR test to confirm and self-isolate in the meantime.

This was originally published in The Conversation, 22 November 2021.

NSW public health nurses and midwives: Know your Special Leave rights

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As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow, it’s important you know your rights and entitlements when it comes to special leave, sick leave and workers’ compensation. The following information applies to nurses and midwives working the NSW public health system.

Check out our Public Health Sector Webinar- COVID-19 and Leave Entitlements Webinar below.

Paid Special Leave provisions for employees (pandemic leave)

With respect to COVID-19, paid special leave of up to 20 days in total may be granted to employees who are unable to work because they are:

  • Self-isolating in line with public health advice due to being a COVID-19 contact (if not symptomatic and not COVID-19 positive)
  • Caring for family members sick with COVID-19
  • Caring for family members due to closure of school/daycare
  • Unable to attend work due to transport disruptions or workplace closure
  • A vulnerable health worker who following completion of a risk assessment is unable to be redeployed to a lower COVID-19 risk environment and is unable to work from home or self-isolation.
  • COVID-19 Vaccination in the particular circumstances described below

Special leave is paid at the base rate (excluding allowances and penalty rates) and should be made available to you before other forms of leave.

After the 20 days total paid special leave has been used, your employer may grant additional NSW Health special leave on a case-by-case basis. If you’ve exhausted your 20 days special leave and you require further special leave, please apply through your employer in the first instance.

Paid Special Leave for casuals

Casual employees are generally not entitled to paid special leave. If a casual is required to self-isolate due to close contact COVID-19 exposure in the workplace, each situation should be considered by the Health agency on a case-by-case basis including such things as:

  • length of the casual engagement and
  • Whether the casual has regular and systemic shifts

Paid special leave may be appropriate for shifts which are already rostered during the self-isolation period.

Paid Special Leave for Vaccination for COVID-19

Health agencies will continue to make arrangements to support employees to access the COVID-19 vaccination whilst on duty, where it is possible to do this and with the need to ensure service delivery is maintained.

If an employee receives the vaccine and experiences an adverse reaction, they may access paid sick leave entitlements. Where sick leave is exhausted, Agency heads may grant special sick leave on a case by case basis.

Employees that receive a COVID-19 Booster vaccination on or after 7 December 2021 are eligible for a special leave payment of two hours per COVID-19 Booster vaccination if unable to be undertaken in work time.

Leave due to COVID-19 positive test

If an employee is sick due to COVID-19 or any other reason, current sick leave entitlements and conditions apply. This includes situations where an employee is:

  • Self-isolating on paid special leave and becomes sick for any reason; at that point the employee should transition onto sick leave.
  • Symptomatic (including a temperature with/ without other symptoms) and requires testing for COVID-19. Sick leave is applicable for the period from where the staff member becomes symptomatic; through to testing and until a negative COVID-19 test result is received by the staff member, regardless of whether the staff member becomes asymptomatic during the period.

Where sick leave is exhausted, your employer may grant additional sick leave on a case-by-case basis. If you’ve exhausted your sick leave due to COVID-19 and you require further sick leave, please apply through your employer in the first instance.

Please read on in case workers compensation rights are applicable to you.

Workers Compensation

If you have contracted COVID-19 and transmission is likely to have occurred in the workplace, you are entitled to make a claim for workers compensation. There is currently a law in place that health workers are presumed to have contracted the virus at work or while working (something the NSW Government is trying to overturn), it should be workers compensation. Whilst you may be placed on sick leave initially, this should be recredited when your workers compensation claim is accepted.

For advice on what steps to take if you believe you are eligible for workers’ compensation, please read the Workers Compensation section found on this page.

Isolation exemption

The isolation exemption signed by the NSW Health Minister is to be followed as per the below description from NSW Health:

An exemption is in place for staff of public health organisations and licensed private health facilities whose absence from the workplace has been identified by their employer as a critical risk to safe service delivery to patients and who has been identified by the employer as being unable to work from home.

The exemption permits the worker to leave self-isolation subject to certain conditions, including wearing a mask, travelling directly to and from work and complying with any risk mitigation strategies put in place by the employer.

If the worker has any symptoms of COVID-19, they must immediately seek a PCR test and not attend work until they have a negative result.

If you are currently isolating as a close contact; are asymptomatic; and are directed by your employer to attend work in full compliance with the above, you must attend work. However, if you believe your employer is directing you to work in breach of the above conditions, please contact the Association immediately.

Nurses are in despair as staffing shortages bite in NSW Hospitals

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Nurses and midwives have described feelings of despair as they battle through the short-staffing crisis that is plaguing our hospitals. Others are now being called back in to work, their hard-earned rostered leave and much-needed family time abruptly cut short.

Across the state, intensive care unit nurses are once again working excessive hours of double shifts and overtime. They are caring for a combination of ventilated and high dependency patients, some with COVID-19 and some without.

Over the weekend ICU nurses at an outer-metropolitan hospital declared, “we are falling like flies”. In the state’s north, an ICU nurse said, “we’ve had two years to prepare for this, and it’s still shit everywhere”, while another reflected, “there’s nothing left in the tank”.

Staffing has become so bad that many ICUs are working without team leaders or the nurses they need in addition to bedside nurses to keep the units working seamlessly. Nurse educators have been forced to stop offering clinical supervision to take on patients of their own. Meanwhile, ICU teams are still attending to medical emergency calls from other parts of their hospitals.

Emergency department staff are also under increased pressure to perform basic, regular observations, and more patients are being left in chairs due to capacity issues.  The number of patients inside designated COVID-19 wards is on the rise, general wards are being converted into COVID wards and numbers are surging in the general wards that remain.

Patient safety and the safety of health staff are the biggest concerns we are hearing from our members. There is also a growing undercurrent of anger. Many nurses and midwives have told us they feel unsupported, undervalued, and are being treated appallingly in unsafe work environments.

Nurses previously deemed close contacts who have been called back to work are working in extremely demoralising conditions. They have been instructed not to remove their masks or googles around other workers, even if physically distanced. They cannot eat or drink at all around others or seek reassurance from their peers in common areas, in a bid to reduce the risk of transmission.

If pulled from home isolation, they can only travel to and from work, with strictly no stops. They are not provided with rapid antigen kits for home use, having to do these tests at work under supervision. While others have been waiting three days or more for their PCR test results, even for testing that has been fast-tracked for health workers. Some have reported being threatened with letters of disciplinary action if their sick leave is high, with or without medical certificates.

Again and again they are being instructed to “suck it up” and soldier on. Sweating for eight, 10 or 12 hours, wrapped head to toe in impervious personal protective equipment. Their resolve is beyond being tested and their goodwill is running thin.

Nurses and midwives have always been a strong, compassionate group of professionals. Many of them hold multiple bachelors and other post-graduate degrees to work in the highly specialised critical care areas of our hospitals. Yet, they are treated with disregard, even when raising concerns about patient safety or care.

It did not have to be like this. The relaxing of health regulations in mid-December has made what would have been a difficult situation worse.

The rise of COVID-19 cases in the community and among health workers over Christmas is compromising the staffing capacity of our hospitals. The Ministry of Health, guided by the Public Health Unit and the Clinical Excellence Commission, have continued to tweak their risk management guidelines to get more staff to the bedside, but it’s not having the immediate impact they had hoped for.

As hospitalisations and ICU admissions increase across the state, health bureaucrats are waiting to see just how much our breaking system can take.

We are in this crisis as a result of decisions made by the NSW government, and it should be held accountable.

Brett Holmes is the General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association.

This was originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January, 2022 – Nurses are in despair as staffing shortages bite in NSW hospitals

Abuse of overwhelmed health staff misdirected this NYE

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As New South Wales prepares to welcome in the New Year, nurses and midwives have been copping increased levels of abuse inside hospitals as they struggle to deliver care with massive staffing shortages.

A lack of available nurses at one major Sydney hospital has prompted calls for patients to be discharged as soon as possible, and for doctors to be on standby to replace or support nurses.

At another major metropolitan hospital, three registered nurses were caring for up to 18 critically unwell coronary patients. Meanwhile, just three midwives were on hand to support 14 labouring women. Midwives were also being subjected to abuse and complaints over a lack of staff available to perform inductions on the maternity ward.

Brett Holmes, General Secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA), said abuse and aggression towards health workers must stop immediately and urged the NSW government intervene.

“Our members are faced with an impossible task of trying to care for rising COVID-19 hospitalisations, as well as other emergency presentations, and not enough staff to provide safe care,” said Mr Holmes.

“The government keeps insisting our health system is strong enough to cope, when that is simply not the reality on the ground. Our members insist it is becoming incredibly unsafe.

“We’re aware nurses, midwives and other health staff are overwhelmed at multiple hospitals already, and they’re not looking forward to what the New Year’s Eve festivities could bring through the doors.

“Patients and family members are presenting to hospital expecting a robust, high-functioning health system and become extremely agitated when they experience the widespread staffing crisis firsthand.

“Our members want the NSW Premier and Health Minister to admit the current situation in our hospitals is dire and call on the public not to abuse health staff as the system struggles under increased demand.

“These circumstances are devastating enough for our nursing and midwifery workforce, which is already grappling with pandemic fatigue and little hope of any reprieve in sight.”

The NSWNMA has once again urged the NSW government to introduce a shift-by-shift COVID-19 allowance to provide nurses and midwives an incentive, given the extraordinary conditions they are experiencing.

“Currently, there are no incentives for staff to keep fronting up, day after day, and being expected to cover these massive staffing shortfalls,” Mr Holmes added.

“We called on the Health Minister to introduce a COVID-19 allowance for nurses and midwives, in line with the Victoria government’s allowance, back in October and received no response.

“Surely, the Health Minister and Premier can acknowledge they do need to give immediate, meaningful recognition to the ongoing sacrifices nurses and midwives are making and what is happening to our health system because of their own government’s decisions.

“Our members are going above and beyond, shift after shift. Despite everything that is being thrown their way. Enough is enough. The government cannot continue piling more upon nurses and midwives and ignore the conditions they are dealing with.”