August 16, 2026

NSWNMA

NSW EDs buckle under pressure

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More presentations with higher numbers of acutely unwell people are stretching the state’s EDs to the limit.

The latest Bureau of Health Information Healthcare Quarterly Report shows there were almost 800,000 ED attendances in NSW hospitals from January to March, while the number of acutely unwell patients rose compared to the same time last year.

During the quarter:

  • urgent cases increased by almost 10,000
  • the average time patients spent in ED climbed by an additional 50 minutes to 9 hours and 4 minutes.

NSWNMA General Secretary Michael Whaites said the volume of patients needing resuscitation, emergency or urgent care in emergency departments, depicted a system under significant pressure.

“A high volume of patients coupled with higher acuity and more complex cases is creating the perfect storm in our EDs.

“The state government must continue to adequately invest in its public health workforce to ensure it has the resources to cope.”

NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Katrina Bough, said “it’s clear our metropolitan and regional facilities are struggling to cope with a spike in patients being admitted into hospital”.

“On a positive note, it’s pleasing to see more elective surgeries have been performed on time and the waiting list has fallen during the quarter compared to the same period last year.”

Nurses and midwives celebrate Northern Beaches Hospital going public

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Nurses and midwives working at Northern Beaches Hospital today marked their first day in the NSW public health system, after campaigning for more than a decade against the privatisation of the facility.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Michael Whaites, said this day had been a long time coming for our members.

“We are relieved that this milestone has finally arrived, after raising staffing and safety concerns at Northern Beaches Hospital for years,” said Mr Whaites.

“Today is a chance to not only celebrate the hospital going into public hands but also acknowledge that this should never have occurred in the first place.

“Our union began fighting against the privatisation of Northern Beaches Hospital 13 years ago, when we warned the previous Coalition government its public private partnership (PPP) would be detrimental to the people of the Northern Beaches.

“We campaigned long and hard against Northern Beaches being privately run and owned, holding rallies outside the hospital, as well as at the former Manly and Mona Vale hospital sites.

“We defeated the Coalition’s privatisation plans for five regional hospitals – Bowral, Wyong, Goulburn, Maitland and Shellharbour – but unfortunately Northern Beaches went ahead.

“There is overwhelming evidence that PPPs are not the right model for delivering public healthcare services to the community, and we are extremely pleased to see another failed PPP transferred to public ownership.”

NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Katrina Bough, said today was a significant moment in the history of the Northern Beaches Hospital.

“Nurses and midwives working at Northern Beaches Hospital have fought long and hard for this win, advocating for safe patient care and quality health services every step of the way. They never gave up the fight to have the hospital taken out of private hands,” said Ms Bough.

“Our members also strongly advocated to ensure their entitlements were carried over, and the recent tax ruling on the transition of annual leave was a key union win for nurses and midwives.

“Staff are looking forward to their conditions improving, including having nurse-to-patient ratios like their public hospital colleagues, which will lead to a safer workplace and quality care that the Northern Beaches community deserves.”

Daylight saving is coming – here’s what you should know

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Daylight saving time ends on the first Sunday in April when clocks are put back one hour and begins again on the first Sunday in October when clocks are put forward one hour. 

Questions about how the time change impacts pay are common among NSWNMA members. Here’s a clear rundown of what to expect so you know your entitlements. 

How daylight saving works with pay 

You must be paid according to the start and finish times that appear on the clock. 

When daylight saving begins in October and the clocks move forward, you end up working one hour less but get paid for one hour more. However, when daylight saving ends in April, and the clocks move back, you end up working an extra hour but get paid one hour less.  

This approach is standard across the public health and generally applies across the private sector unless your relevant enterprise agreement states otherwise. 

How the end of daylight saving affects your shift 

Daylight saving is ending Sunday 5 April, 2026. At 3am on Sunday 5 April, clocks will move back one hour to 2am. 

If you are rostered on a shift during this period, you will work one extra hour but be paid one hour less which is your original contracted hours.  

Making the system fair 

Managers should try to roster the same staff on both the start and end of daylight saving shifts. As such, if you are working when daylight saving ends, you will be able to recoup that pay when daylight saving begins.

This helps balance the additional hour worked in April with the shorter shift in October.

They should also ensure staff understand how their pay may be affected as well as plan rosters early, so everyone knows what to expect.

What happens with overtime during daylight saving changes?

Public Sector 

Overtime is calculated based on original rostered hours worked, regardless of the new daylight saving times and whether the shift is shorter or longer due to daylight saving changes.

Private Sector 

Overtime is calculated based on actual hours worked and according to the new daylight saving times.

What is the NSWNMA doing about it?  

At the 80th Annual Conference on 8 August 2026 of the NSWNMA passed the following resolution:  

This Annual Conference resolves that the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association will:  

Demand that NSW Health and all employing authorities pay nurses and midwives for the actual number of hours worked during overnight shifts impacted by the end of daylight saving time, i.e. 11 hours not 10

To that end, NSWNMA is preparing briefing notes for public and private sector log of claims committees, so that this claim can be considered for inclusion in the public sector award and private sector enterprise bargaining negotiations.

Got a question?  

If you’re a member of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association and need help understanding how daylight saving will affect you, contact us here. 

You can read more information about your rights by clicking here. 

Not a member? Join the association today! 

Northern Beaches Hospital transitions to public ownership

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Northern Beaches Hospital is due to move to public ownership on 29 April – an outcome the NSWNMA campaigned strongly for. The Association is working to ensure the transition does not unfairly disadvantage the nurses and midwives who have loyally served the Northern Beaches community and strongly support the government takeover.

Transfer of the 494-bed Northern Beaches Hospital (NBH) from a failed public-private partnership under Healthscope to the public system brings both significant wins and complex challenges. 

On the plus side, nurses and midwives will be covered by a generally more favourable public health system award and the NSWNMA helped achieve a major win for overseas-recruited staff employed by Healthscope on short-term visas (see story page 16). 

Meanwhile, the Association is trying to resolve issues relating to tax, a dispute over cashing out excessive leave, and a potential reduction in annual leave for certain workers. 

“These issues are causing a lot of anxiety among nurses and midwives,” said Sheridan Brady, president of the NSWNMA branch at Northern Beaches and a member of the Association’s Council. 

The NSWNMA wrote to Health Minister Ryan Park seeking support to fix the problems. 

The tax issue arises because many members have unusually large annual leave balances as a result of the Association’s win in an 18-month battle over Healthscope’s incorrect leave calculations in the Fair Work Commission. 

Under the commission decision, Healthscope was forced to review the accrual and payment of annual leave entitlements for all current and former nurses and midwives, from Jan 2012 to May 2025. 

Some workers had more than 400 hours of accrued annual leave restored to them. 

Due to a loophole in the Fair Work Act, when an employee transfers annual leave from a private business to a government agency it is treated as income for tax purposes. 

Employees will therefore be viewed by the Australian Tax Office as having significantly higher incomes, without actually receiving additional income. 

In the letter to Ryan Park, the NSWNMA said employees not only faced unfairly high tax bills but “it also has the potential to have a significant impact on Centrelink payments, the repayment rates of Higher Education Loan Program debts, child support payment rates and family tax benefit. 

“We understand that this is an issue that can be raised with the Australian Tax Office, and a ruling sought to ensure employees transferring their leave are not negatively impacted.  

“We seek the government’s advocacy to ensure this issue is remedied prior to the transfer of leave entitlements.” 

Sheridan Brady said that in order to avoid these problems, some nurses and midwives sought to have part of their leave paid out before the April transition date – in line with the Healthscope enterprise agreement which allows staff to cash out excessive leave by agreement. 

“However, staff were advised that we could cash out all of our leave, or none of it,” Sheridan said. 

“Therefore, we have gone back to the Fair Work Commission to try to get a ruling to allow a partial payout as per our EBA. 

“We are seeking to have some of our leave paid out and some transferred. In the interest of fatigue management, we don’t want to transfer across with no leave.  

“There is a lot of stress around these issues and we are trying to avoid a big tax bill for members.  

“We are also trying to minimise the potential impact in other areas, such as single parents losing child support, larger repayments due on HECS debts, increased Medicare levy and reduced government rebates for private health insurance. 

“Transferring large leave balances from Healthscope would also hurt NSW Health through accrued liabilities and workforce availability, due to its strict excess leave policies.”  

In the letter to Mr Park, the NSWNMA also raised a looming reduction in annual leave for part-time shift workers. 

Employees who are part-time, but are classified as shift workers under the Healthscope enterprise agreement, get a minimum of five weeks of annual leave (pro rata). Under the Public Health System Nurses and Midwives’ (State) Award this leave entitlement is only four weeks. 

“This means that part-time shift work employees who transition from Healthscope to NSW Health will accrue less annual leave after the transition occurs. 

“It is difficult to reconcile a clear reduction in conditions of employment with the government’s goal of ensuring employees are treated fairly during a process over which they have little control … We ask that this decision be reversed, and that transitioning employees be advised that they may continue to accrue annual leave at the higher rate.” 

Sheridan said Mr Park promised that Northern Beaches staff would be no worse off by moving to the public system, and “the branch aims to hold him to this commitment.”  

She pointed out that many NBH nurses and midwives were previously public employees at Manly and Mona Vale hospitals before the government closed Manly and downgraded Mona Vale. 

The new NBH operated by Healthscope under the public private partnership model was the replacement acute hospital. 

After NBH opened in 2018, Healthscope was bought by Brookfield – a New York-based asset and private equity fund manager – in 2019. 

Brookfield then sold the land under Healthscope hospitals which gave Brookfield a cash injection but forced Healthscope hospitals to pay land rent. 

Healthscope collapsed into receivership in 2025 owing $1.6 billion, which forced NSW Health to take over NBH.  

Why our claim is a ‘Special Case’

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Over three days in December, highly regarded industrial relations barrister Leo Saunders summed up the evidence in support of the union’s main pay and conditions claims at the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).

They include a substantial wage increase, additional personal leave, and a right to request flexible work arrangements.

Mr Saunders said the Association’s claim was a “special case” that deserves to be considered outside the usual restrictive wage-fixing principles.

He said the claim was justified by significant changes in the scope and complexity of nursing and midwifery work, partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and evolving professional standards.

His overarching argument was that nurses’ and midwives’ work has been historically undervalued, particularly due to gender-based factors, and that significant changes in work value and the rising cost of living now require substantial improvements to pay and conditions.

He asked the IRC to consider a combination of several factors, including historical undervaluation, work value change, economic context, and recruitment pressures.

HISTORICAL UNDERVALUATION

The Association is seeking a 35 per cent increase (including interim increases already awarded) over three years.

Mr Saunders said the claim was justified by a combination of historical gender-based undervaluation and substantial changes in work value.

Nurses’ and midwives’ scope of practice has expanded to include more high-value tasks and time spent on complex duties.

He said that until recently, gender-based undervaluation of women’s work had been a feature of the Australian industrial relation system.

Mr Saunders drew on expert evidence to show that caring and interpersonal skills, often associated with “women’s work,” have not been properly valued in past wage-setting processes.

These “invisible skills” were critical to nursing but had not been explicitly recognised in pay rates.

Mr Saunders urged the IRC to address this undervaluation and ensure fair recognition of the full range of nursing skills in wage outcomes.

A key witness for the Association on this issue was Professor Meg Smith, the Deputy Dean at the School of Business at Western Sydney University.

“Undervaluation of women’s work is a thread which links together the three causes of the gender pay gap: occupational segregation, discrimination, and women’s unequal share of family responsibilities,” she told the IRC.

CHANGES IN WORK VALUE

Mr Saunders outlined how the nature of nursing and midwifery has changed dramatically over the past 15 years.

He pointed to increased complexity and acuity of patient care, advances in education and regulation, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as drivers of intensified demands and responsibilities.

He argued that these changes are not merely evolutionary but represent a significant uplift in the skill, responsibility, and intensity required of nurses and midwives, justifying a substantial wage increase.

“We are talking here of … significantly over a decade of change in a field characterised by continuous improvement in technology, in science, in every aspect of health care and in interpersonal and cultural awareness,” he said.

ECONOMIC AND FISCAL CONSIDERATIONS

Mr Saunders said nurses have experienced a sharper decline in real wages than other sectors, and that restoring fair and reasonable conditions is both economically sound and just.

He said that between 2020 and now, Australia and NSW “experienced unanticipated and sharp inflation”.

Nurses’ wages in relation to inflation “did not come close to keeping up and fell faster in real terms than the others around New South Wales.”

He argued that while the wage claim for nurses and midwives is macroeconomically significant, the fiscal evidence presented by the government did not justify substantial wage restraint.

The government had exaggerated the negative fiscal impacts, he said.

He said the evidence does not demonstrate a need for significant wage moderation and urged the IRC to focus on “fair valuation rather than fiscal alarmism”.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

Mr Saunders said ongoing workforce shortages demonstrate the need for improved pay and conditions.

He noted well-documented difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff, with data showing declining retention rates and challenges in filling vacancies, especially in regional areas.

This was supported by both statistical evidence and the lived experiences of senior practitioners.

He said staff shortages have a direct effect on the skill mix within teams, leading to increased pressure on existing staff.

When experienced nurses leave, the remaining workforce must take on more complex tasks and greater responsibility, which can further intensify workloads and contribute to burnout.

Mr Saunders argued that this cycle undermines the quality of care and the sustainability of the profession.

Mr Saunders pointed out that NSW nurses’ pay rates are falling behind their interstate and federal counterparts.

This comparative disadvantage made it harder to attract and retain staff, particularly in border regions where nurses may be tempted to move for better conditions.

Higher pay was essential to prevent nurses “voting with their feet” and to maintain a stable workforce.

He said one-off payments to attract staff to regional areas were not a substitute for systemic improvements in base pay and conditions. Sustainable recruitment and retention required long-term solutions that address undervaluation and work value changes.

He linked recruitment and retention directly to the ability of the health system to deliver safe, high-quality care.

Persistent shortages and high turnover rates threatened the effectiveness of health services, increased reliance on overtime and agency staff, and could lead to gaps in care.

He argued that improving pay and conditions is not only fair to nurses and midwives but also essential for the public interest.

OTHER CLAIMS

The Association is asking the IRC to double personal leave entitlements, introduce a right to request flexible work arrangements, and introduce a meal allowance for patient transport nurses.

Mr Saunders framed these as necessary updates to bring nurses’ conditions in line with broader public sector standards and to address anomalies.”

Fingers crossed on a good outcome

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Readers of The Lamp will agree that nurses and midwives are skilled professionals deserving of a decent wage that reflects the expertise and responsibilities we have. Our labour forms the very backbone of the health system.

The NSWNMA have conducted a long campaign for a significant pay rise and better working conditions.

It’s been a privilege to have played a small part in this campaign. I’ve been active in working with my colleagues in my branch: organising our contribution to industrial action, bearing witness by attending the NSW parliament in the public gallery, meeting with MPs, and attending hearings at the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).

I attended the first and the final hearings at the IRC, and quite a few in between.

The proceedings were at times a bit dry – we heard very technical legal arguments about whether certain pieces of evidence could be admitted – and sometimes entertaining, for example to have NHPPD explained to the Commissioners, and their surprise with just how easily it can be manipulated.

At the same time, it was distressing to hear the legal arguments for the Ministry undervaluing our work, and quite frankly disappointing to witness senior nursing management testifying against our interests. On the other hand, I feel nothing but pride and admiration for our colleagues who took the stand and faced cross-examination. That’s not an easy thing to do.

I’m left feeling hopeful that we will receive a good outcome. Fingers crossed!

Liz Turner Registered Nurse

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