General
Nurses continue raising voices for a stronger future
The incredible courage of nurses and their unwavering dedication to patient care is being recognised this International Nurses’ Day. As tens of thousands of aged care, public and private sector nurses celebrate, they are united behind the desperate need for governments to invest in nursing and deliver safe staffing.
Acknowledging the extraordinary sacrifices by nurses, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has urged the community to support calls for shift by shift nurse-to-patient ratios to be introduced into public hospitals, mandated staffing levels in aged care, and fair pay across the profession.
NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said it was time governments stepped up to support and protect the nursing workforce and adequately invested for the future.
“Nursing sits at the heart of our health care system and nurses’ voices deserve to be heard by the decision makers to ensure better health outcomes are achieved,” said Mr Holmes.
“Ask any nurse of any classification across the state what they want on International Nurses’ Day and the overwhelming majority all agree on the need for safe staffing and decent wages.”
NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the vital role nurses play in providing care, compassion and comfort to patients and residents was unique, yet governments fail to match their work value.
“It’s widely acknowledged our health and aged care systems rely heavily on the proficiency of their nursing workforces,” said Ms Candish.
“The contribution nurses make to the wellbeing of our society is invaluable, and the depth of this has been on display throughout the global health pandemic that we still find ourselves in today.”
NSWNMA Councillor and aged care nurse, Jocelyn Hofman, said nurses deserved better support.
“As a registered nurse in aged care I want what is best for the residents in my care, and that is safe staffing. We need a federal government that will reform aged care now,” Ms Hofman said.
NSWNMA Orange Base Hospital Branch President, Grace Langlands, said rural and regional health had been neglected too long and patient care was continuing to suffer.
“We need people to understand nursing is a hard job, but it’s a rewarding job. We’re doing the best we can, but we really need more nurses and safe ratios,” said Ms Langlands.
NSWNMA Canowindra Memorial Hospital Branch President, Samantha Gregory-Jones, said nurses deserved safe workplaces and staffing ratios.
“We do all of this for our communities and our families, but we need the NSW government to recognise our claim for nurse-to-patient ratios and remember that we are amazing,” added Ms Gregory-Jones.
NSWNMA Prince of Wales Mental Health Branch Secretary, Skye Romer, said as advocates for patient safety, nurses were fighting to secure better health care for all.
“We’ve got a tough job and nursing isn’t for everyone, but we do it with dedication and empathy to give our patients and consumers the best possible outcomes. It’s time for the government to give us safe staffing ratios and stop taking our goodwill for granted,” Ms Romer said.
The NSWNMA is continuing to advocate for the introduction of nurse-to-patient ratios on every shift and for the wellbeing of all nurses and midwives across NSW.
During the pandemic, the government attempted to call back retired or part time nurses, who they called under-utilised. There were no financial incentives or considerations offered, just a “call to arms” to assist their colleagues and patients. The army was called in, a medical emergency declared in effect.
The impact on the aged pension that those retired nurses may be receiving, was only skated over. The subsistence wage in the aged care sector, only a whisper in the background.
The fact that nurses have retired due to age, ageism, burn-out, physical considerations, other duties in personal life, all skated over by emotional blackmail. You may say “ageism”?
For the last , at least 20 years, increasing in noise and intensity, with age, I have been subjected to ageism, from my work colleagues.
Those colleagues who treat such ageism as a “joke”, have no idea how demoralising this “joke” is to the older nurse. The same way male colleagues may treat a female colleague as a “joke”, ageism has its impact on the workplace, and how a sector of the workforce feel, and are treated.
I surmise this ageism may have expression in the way aged care has been marginalised across the community.
I believe we need a rethink, to integrate older people in the community, and encouragement for the older workers. In a way we need to forget “age” and think in terms of possibilities.
When I sit and chat with my contemporaries in nursing, and this Ageist topic comes up, the resentment shines in their eyes.
As we are all headed that way, take a moment to think how you may have treated your older colleague. Replace the “joke” with respect and inclusiveness, for if you are fortunate enough to survive in the profession , without a re-think, you too will face that ageism one day all too soon.