Career
EN must be supervised by an RN
Fair Work Commission accepts an enrolled nurse cannot be put in charge of a hospital unit and orders back pay for registered nurse.
The NSWNMA has won payment of a dual in-charge allowance for a registered nurse working night shifts at Wesley Hospital in Ashfield, Sydney.
Antony Parkin RN will get more than two years back pay after the Fair Work Commission found he should have been paid the in-charge-of-ward/unit allowance in addition to the in charge-of-hospital allowance he was receiving.
Over the past two years, Antony was rostered to be in charge of the 38-bed hospital while working night shifts.
The hospital has three wards: the General Psychiatry Unit (GPU), overseen by Antony, the Eating Disorder Unit (EDU); overseen by a second RN; and the Alcohol and Drugs Unit (AOD); overseen by an enrolled nurse.
Antony concluded he was entitled to a dual allowance after reading the Wesley Hospital enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
“I took the time to read the EBA and realised I and others were being underpaid,” he said.
In two letters to management he said he was entitled to the dual allowance because in addition to being in charge of the GPU and the hospital he was responsible for supervising the EN in the AOD.
Management replied he was not entitled to the dual allowance but did not explain why.
Antony took his case to the union, which wrote to hospital management seeking payment of the dual allowance.
Good support from the Association
Antony said it was the first time he had sought support from the NSWNMA.
“The union has been fantastic; I can’t fault them at all,” he said.
“Union staff were always available to take my calls and they acted immediately whenever an issue arose.
“They even attended meetings outside of their working hours, so I was very impressed with the union’s efforts for me and other Wesley members.”
When management failed to respond to NSWNMA correspondence, the union lodged a dispute with the commission.
Fair Work Commissioner Leigh Johns said the NSWNMA presented “unchallenged” evidence that it was outside the scope of practice for an EN to work autonomously and be in charge of the AOD unit.
This was in accordance with the Nursing & Midwifery Board of Australia’s Enrolled Nurses’ Standards for Practice, which say the EN, is “generally required to work under the direct or indirect supervision of the RN.”
According to the union’s evidence, the EN Standard makes it clear that the EN must work under the direct or indirect supervision of a RN at all times.
“The need for the EN to have a named and accessible RN at all times and in all contexts of care for support and guidance is critical to patient safety,” the Standard says.
Antony gave evidence that both the RN (in the EDU) and the EN (in the AOD) reported directly to him (as the nurse in charge of the hospital) on all aspects of clinical care for all patients.
“The evidence of RN Parkin remained intact after cross-examination,” Commissioner Johns noted.
Management’s evidence was that the EN reported to the Director of Nursing (DoN) and, though the DoN was not on duty at night, the EN could phone the DoN during the night shift. That argument was not successful.
Commissioner Johns said management “had every opportunity to lead evidence from either the Director of Nursing and/or the EN which could have contradicted the evidence of RN Parkin, but, for reasons which remain a mystery, it chose not to do so.”
“I am entitled to draw the adverse inference that the evidence of both would not have assisted (management).”
RNs critical to patient safety
Commissioner Johns said a NSWNMA witness, professional officer Susan Taylor, brought “a high degree of expertise and specialist knowledge to an understanding of industrial arrangements that apply to nurses. Her evidence about Standards of Registration and Standards of Practice was instructive. Ms Taylor was cross-examined to no effect.”
He said her “unchallenged” evidence was that “in practice the EN Standard requires that an EN must be supervised by a named RN and have reasonable access to the RN at all times for support and guidance which is critical to patient safety.”
He found that, during the night shift, Antony was in charge of the EN and therefore entitled to the IC W/U & H Allowance.
He ordered that Antony receive back pay.
“The hospital argued in the Commission that the EN can be in charge of the unit, which has never been the case anywhere I have worked,” Antony said.
“I took the time to read the EBA and realised I and others were being underpaid.”— ANTONY PARKIN, RN
In a further twist, Wesley management argued that the Fair Work Commission had no power to make an order for back payment because it was not a judicial body.
However, Commissioner Johns ruled that he had the authority to order back payment because he was acting as a private arbitrator under the dispute resolution clause of the Wesley enterprise agreement.
More information
To help other Wesley nurses get back pay the union has written to members asking them to provide copies of payslips for periods when they have been in charge on night shift. For more information call the Association on 8595 1234.