I challenge anyone including fellow clinicians, ferry drivers, garbage collectors or computer engineers to imagine a day in the life of a Midwife on a postnatal ward;

– you have been allocated a above average workload , and you are given double the workload that your supervisor told you that you have. You complain about your double workload, and you are told that it’s not double because half of the workload you have been allocated needs to be fully completed, but it won’t be counted as your workload.

This is what Postnatal midwives experience every day! This is a breach of WHS act 2011 and Fair Work act 2009 regarding an unreasonable workload when 6-7 of our infant patients are not counted but consume an increasing amount of time. Factors to consider;

– infants are increasingly sent to a postnatal ward instead of neonatal nursery as low as 2.2 kg or 28 weeks or receiving phototherapy , constant observations, 3/24 feeds by syringe & baby’s NAS observations withdrawing from drugs or hlarge haematomas requiring increased observations all included in each midwives workload, but not counted. This is not new. This has been buried for decades . What other specialty or profession would actually choose to accept twice the work but only count half of your workload & just not acknowledge that this is lawful, albeit unreasonable. This would not be allowed in a male dominated profession & it should be regarded as unlawful that our tireless midwives want a fair workload to reflect the workload of the neonate , in addition to the maternal patient. Being flogged with a 14 patient workload for $46 per hour is unconscionable.