For years we have been campaigning for Ratios for patient safety only for it to fall on the Governments deaf ears.  Long before Covid hit us we often had nursing shortages on shift, poor skill mix, RN sick leave replaced by AINs and huge amounts of overtime on offer.  I don’t know how we managed to get through it and keep our patients safe but we did, and then along comes COVID.  We didn’t know what hit us.  Patient numbers swelled, nurses were deployed from each ward to staff Covid Units, they were off isolating  due to close contacts or God forbid off for weeks after succumbing to the virus. Staff are exhausted from constantly working overtime, and with the overtime, wards still short staffed.  We all worried that we would take it home to our families too.  I work in the wards, and it is bad enough.   I don’t even have time to chat with patients during the course of my shift, to offer them the emotional support that I normally would because they are alone and frightened about the situation they find themselves in.  all we can do is concentrate on completing all the tasks we must do,  I don’t sleep well at night, it plays in my mind over and over.  I feel for my colleges in ICU and Emergency.  I just don’t know how they do it day after day, Sometimes working 6 to 8 staff members down on a shift.   Its just a hot mess! I take my hats off to them.  Its bloody hard work and still no real acknowledgement from the Government.  We desperately need our ratios NOW, before the next wave hits us. It is the best way to achieve safe outcomes for our patients. Our residents in Western Sydney deserve better.   The residents in NSW deserve better, as do the nurses and midwives. A Covid allowance in our pay would be a good start.   We deserve to be given the money that the Government took from us since 2020. and we deserve a decent payrise.  2.5% doesn’t cut it anymore with the increased costs of living.