“I’m a proud employee of North Shore Private. I stood by you. For three years I wore a N95 mask – do you know what that’s like in PPE? … I did that for you – and where are you behind me now?”
With those remarks, nurse and midwife Carol Cooke reminded the Ramsay Health Care board of directors of its responsibilities to the company’s nursing staff – and their vital role.
Carol was among the NSWNMA members who spoke from the floor during Ramsay’s annual general meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in Sydney on November 26.
She said she had been at North Shore Private since before the hospital opened 26 years ago.
“From the coalface, I want you to know that your patients are not getting the best care,” Carol told the nine directors seated on the stage.
She held up her Ramsay certificate for 25 years’ service, adding, “But I’m not being supported.”
She said Paul Ramsay, who founded the now-global company in Sydney in 1964, used to work with the nurses.
“He would give us whatever equipment we wanted, and we were well staffed.”
Today, however, “I start at 7am and I finish at 7:30 at night. I don’t get breaks. I answer the phone, I admit patients, I get water, I change flowers, I support women in labour.”
“I want you to know that when I come to work not only am I caring for your women and your babies, I also have lives in my hands.
“Open your eyes”
“I’m your patient safety and without me and all my team here you would not have safe practices and it’s getting unsafe on every shift.
“Without nurses, your patients will not come.
“You’ve got to be really worried that outside in the street you have got nurses who have taken time off to be here unpaid to let everyone know that we are hurting, our patients are hurting, our patient safety is down, our ratios are very poor.
“You need to open your eyes and talk to people like me because I am the eyes and the hands to the doctors.
In reply to Carol, Ramsay chairman David Thodey, a former CEO of Telstra, said, “We are very conscious of the work you do and how dependent we are on what you do every day.”
Thodey said, “We want to find a way through this [industrial dispute] and the only way we can do this is by talking, so let’s keep that dialogue going.”
He added, “If there’s anything in terms of patient care or in terms of staff care that you’re worried about, please let us know.”
Carol was followed by Deanna Hayes, NSWNMA branch secretary and delegate at St George Private Hospital, who said she had been nursing at St George Private for 23 years.
“You said we need to keep talking; we’ve been in this protracted enterprise bargaining for 20 months already,” Deanna told Thodey.
“We’ve told them [Ramsay management] stories from the floor from representatives from all over NSW … and we still can’t convince you that this is what we need.
“You say that Ramsay is living by their mantra of people caring for people. This certainly isn’t obvious to your workforce.
“Ramsay have refused to acknowledge their valuable staff – most of whom have university degrees – in a cost-of-living crisis and we are the people who keep your business making profits.
“When will Ramsay finally agree to our reasonable demands around a pay rise that reflects that we are valued and agree to clauses to allow us to provide safe staffing for your patients?