COVID-19 has shown how vulnerable our public health system is – and nurses and midwives are crucial to keeping it running.

However, our current workloads are just not sustainable. We’re tired, we’re burning out, and we don’t feel supported at work. The system is at breaking point.

Nurses and midwives like me have been fighting for safe staffing ratios for over a decade, but our stubborn state government refuses to listen.

A nurse-to-patient ratio is the number of nurses working on a ward or unit in relation to the number of patients they care for. There aren’t enough nurses to patients, and it’s risking lives.

Research has shown time and again that the number of patients allocated to a nurse or midwife on a shift is directly related to patient safety, mortality and quality of care. To put it simply, safe staffing ratios save lives.

It’s time the NSW government stopped patting us on the back and calling us heroes.  They need to listen to us as trusted health professionals and deliver the health system we all deserve.

Together, we can help deliver the public health system NSW deserves.

Skye Romer, EN