The new Primary Health Care Branch offers connections and support for members who work in isolation.
In 2023, RN Adama Luminous–Akazua (right in picture) left her position at a major aged care facility to take a job at an urgent care clinic. There, for the first time in her career, she became the sole nurse on duty.
“When I saw that I was alone I realised I needed a backup – some kind of protection,” Adama said.
“Who could I call if I needed advice? Who could I reach out to? That was my initial reason for joining the NSWNMA.”
She said her decision was soon validated when advice from the Association’s Visa Assist service (in collaboration with Unions NSW) proved crucial to her gaining permanent residency in Australia.
“I can’t praise the union enough for that help alone,” said Adama, who was born in Nigeria and trained as a nurse in Malaysia.
While reassured to know she could always call on the Association for help, she still felt isolated as the only nurse on shift at her Western Sydney clinic.
“I didn’t have nursing colleagues to talk to who had similar issues to me. There was no avenue to share ideas about how to go about things in the workplace.”
In 2024, the Association’s primary care sector coordinator visited her clinic to discuss forming a Primary Health Care Branch.
“I was very happy to see a union representative at the clinic for the first time. The union taking the trouble to do that had a big impact on me deciding to join the branch.”
As branch secretary, Adama’s role includes keeping branch membership records, notifying members about upcoming meetings, and summarising branch discussions and decisions.
“I think we are doing really well for a new branch,” she said.
“We are getting good numbers of people to our Zoom meetings, and the numbers are increasing. Members are really excited and happy to be heard. They are happy to have a place where they can talk about similar issues.
“Our members want to know their rights; they want to know more about what they’re entitled to.
“Some of them ask are we entitled to uniforms? Most employers do provide staff uniforms but some nurses have to buy their uniforms themselves.
“Other common questions are, how many breaks are we entitled to? What is the penalty if we have to work through our breaks?”
Adama said the increasing growth of job roles is a concern for many primary health care nurses.
“Nurses are asking if they are allowed to do this or that, if it is within their scope of practice. Are they protected and supported?”
She said primary health care nurses have many common issues despite working in different settings and for many hundreds of employers.
“Urgent care nurses may face different circumstances from GP nurses or cosmetic nurses, for example. But at the end of the day, I think our similarities are more than our differences.”
Adama cites occupational health and safety as a common concern.
“How do we talk to management about health and safety when we are the only nurse in the workplace?
“As a branch of the union we can get together to talk about these issues, and then the union can push it on our behalf to the management. We do not have to go to speak to the management alone.”