NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members at Maitland Hospital walked out in their own time over a chronic short-staffing crisis they fear is risking patient safety.
Severe understaffing across the hospital, including a lack of experienced nurses in the emergency department, added pressures in the intensive care and maternity units, and a lack of support from the NSW government for safe staffing ratios had prompted nurses and midwives to walk out at the end of night shift at 8:00AM.
Nurses and midwives are working back to back shifts, week after week, to keep the service functioning and their overtime hours are excessive, leading to burnout and fatigue.
Branch delegate Monique Murray described the working conditions at the hospital as “horrendous”.
“The staff have had enough and this is just one of many attempts to be heard,” she said.
“We need staffing, we need ratios, we need to make sure that we have safe numbers on the floor.”
NSWNMA members hope to raise community awareness of new wards being opened to meet the growing local demand, despite a lack of nursing staff to safely care for the patients being put into unfunded beds. Existing wards are also regularly staffed two or three nurses short per shift.
Branch members have also called on Health Minister Brad Hazzard to intervene and address the untenable workloads staff are experiencing at Maitland Hospital.