July 3, 2022

public hospital

Ask Shaye: FACS leave for floods

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Due to the floods, I was unable to get to the public hospital where I work. Is there leave I can claim, or do I have to use my annual leave?

Where an emergency is declared, you can claim the shifts you were unable to work as Family and Community Services (FACS) leave. If your FACS leave balance is exhausted, you can access up to five days of special leave. Check the NSW Government website to find out when and where an emergency has been declared. Your employer cannot compel you to use your annual.

Poor ED staffing continues to impact patient care

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Ongoing pressure inside public hospital emergency departments (EDs) has prompted renewed calls by the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) for staffing ratios to be mandated on every shift.

The NSWNMA wants the NSW government to introduce a ratio of one nurse to every three ED treatment spaces to improve patient care, backed by Bureau of Health Information (BHI) figures that show patients’ rating of overall care in December 2020 to June 2021 fell below 2019-20 levels.

According to the BHI, overall ED patient experiences were significantly lower than the state average at Blacktown Hospital, Inverell Hospital and Nepean Hospital.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said the data showed ED staff were unable to check on as many patients while they waited for treatment in John Hunter, Wollongong, Belmont, Westmead, Nepean, Shellharbour and Wyong hospitals, which all performed worse than the NSW median.

“We’ve indicated to the government numerous times how tough conditions have become inside many emergency departments due to chronic understaffing issues,” said Mr Holmes.

“Short staffing was impacting on patient care and safety well before the pandemic and these results show how it was exacerbated during COVID-19 peaks.”

The BHI data indicated one in five ED patients (19%) statewide said they received contradictory information about their condition or treatment.

At Inverell Hospital in the New England, only 42 per cent of patients thought ED staff worked ‘very good’ together, while 54 per cent said they had enough time to discuss their health issue with staff.

“There’s been no reprieve for our public sector nurses and midwives across the state, and we’re continuing to see them reduce their hours or leave nursing and midwifery entirely,” said Mr Holmes.

“The volume of overtime they’re being asked to do, growing skills mix issues and recruitment delays are continuing to take a toll. We need nurse-to-patient ratios of 1:3 on every shift in our emergency departments and the NSW government needs stop relying on its decade-old staffing model that no longer reflects the volume of work necessary to meet demand.

“It’s not good enough. NSW patients deserve better health care and staff deserve safe working conditions.”

5,000 nurses & midwives lacks nurse-to-patient ratios certainty

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On the back of another budget surplus, and projected surpluses over four years, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) has reiterated calls for the NSW Government to introduce a transparent, statewide nurse-to-patient ratios system.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said while the government’s $10 billion hospital infrastructure upgrades outlined in the 2019-20 budget were welcome, he warned ongoing staffing issues would continue to plague the state’s public hospitals until the government’s preferred staffing model was overhauled.

“We welcome the government’s commitment to 5,000 more nurses and midwives, but we know more than 3,800 full-time equivalent nurses and 252 midwives are needed to meet existing growth in the public hospital sector,” Mr Holmes said.

“We acknowledge the remaining 893 nurses and 48 midwives will assist many metropolitan and regional hospitals to boost their current nursing hours per patient.

“Unfortunately, this is a mechanism proven to be fallible to management manipulation, which is why we will continue our long-term campaign for real nurse-to-patient ratios, guaranteed shift by shift.

“We know that without minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, nurses and midwives will continue to struggle to meet demand and maintain safe patient care.

“Forced to contend with a rolling 2.5 per cent salary cap, public sector nurses and midwives will also be concerned to see the government’s latest attack on public servants’ entitlements, on the basis of ‘when will they be coming for ours?’”

Mr Holmes said the NSWNMA was yet to receive any specific details from the NSW Ministry of Health regarding the election commitment to significantly increase resources in Peer Group B and C hospitals across the state.

The NSWNMA confirmed it would continue campaigning for minimum, mandated nurse-to-patient ratios to be introduced in NSW, similar to legislation already introduced in Victoria and Queensland.

Download this release: 5,000 nurses & midwives lacks nurse-to-patient ratios certainty

Let’s keep fighting for a better public health system

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Our successful campaign to stop the privatisation of five regional hospitals provides us with the inspiration to push on and improve our public health system.

Maitland Hospital is to stay in public hands. Just like Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour and Bowral hospitals. How sweet that sounds!

Sixteen months ago it looked like a very big mountain to climb when the then health minister Jillian Skinner announced the privatisation of those regional hospitals.

But all credit to local nurses and midwives, other health staff and their unions and their local communities. They never took it lying down. Unity, commitment, hard work, perseverance, creativity: all were in abundance over the last 16 months as they fought tooth and nail to keep their hospitals public.

Nurses and midwives’ engagement with the public and, in return, their wholehearted support was instrumental in the win. This is a critical lesson for us to absorb as we step up our efforts to extend and improve ratios throughout the public health system.

Polls always show the public rank health among their most important issues. The last sixteen months has shown us they are prepared to go further and participate in our campaigns. Clearly, they cherish our public health system as much as we do.

The community turned out in droves at all our anti-privatisation rallies. At our first rally at Wyong over 3000 packed the local football ground. There was also large public participation at Shellharbour and the other targeted hospitals. Over 35,000 people in Wyong signed our petition. More than 25,000 in Maitland did the same.

The public is our most powerful ally. The community’s willingness to stand together with us obviously had a powerful impact on the NSW government which lead directly to the government backing down. I acknowledge Brad Hazzard, the current Minister, for his preparedness to listen to our members and the community.

Stopping the privatisation of regional hospitals is a significant achievement and victory. But there are now other battles we must turn to if we are to maintain a world-class public health system.

We need to maintain and build on this relationship with the public in our other campaigns, including for better ratios in the public health system and aged care.

Of course the NSWNMA will be doing its utmost to inform the public of the importance of ratios to safe patient care. But there is also an important role for all nurses and midwives to play.

Many, many people in the community know a nurse either as a friend or as family. We cannot underestimate how powerful and effective it is for nurses and midwives to engage the people we know about our issues and how they impact on them as patients.

New office accommodation underway for the Association

In other news, for the past 14 months we have been exploring nearby sites to relocate our head office in order to best serve you and our growing membership into the future.

Our current Waterloo premises now sit in an area which has been re-zoned by City of Sydney for high density residential redevelopment. Therefore, I am delighted to announce 9,000 square metres of new office space to be built within a new mixed-use commercial complex at 342 King Street, Mascot.

Spanning four levels, the space is proposed to include a 500 seat auditorium, a library, member education rooms and meeting rooms. The project relates to a stratum above a hotel and will also comprise one level of basement parking in a multistorey carpark. A development application for the project is expected to be lodged this month with Bayside Council and I will continue to keep you informed as progress is made.

Nurses drive united hospital campaign

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The battle to save Maitland Hospital brought unions and the community closer together.

Jane Burton and Liz Featherstone were on afternoon shift in Maitland Hospital’s surgical ward when a NSWNMA text message told them they had won the fight to keep their public hospital.

“We were excited and elated,” said Liz, the hospital’s NSWNMA branch delegate. “The whole ward knew within a few seconds and all the patients were rapt too.”

Jane, the NSWNMA branch president, said the news “lifted the mood throughout the whole hospital. Everyone was so excited and relieved that we will be able to continue our careers and care for our local community in a public hospital”.

“It was fabulous news after a long, hard battle to get what our community needs and deserves.”

Jane said it had been a privilege to work with other unions and community members in the campaign,
which collected 25,000 signatures on an anti-privatisation petition.

“Our joint work has set a precedent for closer cooperation between union and community groups on health care issues down the track.

“I think the nurses’ passion for providing decent health care for our community helped drive every-
one forward.”

Great support from other hospitals

She said Maitland nurses received “great support’ from nurses in other hospitals – in particular, Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour and Bowral hospitals.

“When those hospitals succeeded in stopping privatisation it helped to propel our own campaign.

“Nurses from those hospitals helped us with ideas for actions that had worked for them in their communities and quite a few attended our rallies and meetings.

“We never felt as if we were standing alone.”

Jane says the campaign’s success has empowered locals to get more involved in community groups.

“It has helped to unite the community and brought people in who were not very active in the community.

“It has also strengthened our ties with outlying areas that send patients to Maitland – places like Cessnock, Dungog, Kurri Kurri, Muswellbrook, and Taree.”

Jane said nurses would continue to work to ensure that the new Maitland Hospital is adequate for the expanding community.

“A new clinical services plan is being developed and we want to ensure we get an opportunity to have some input.”

Liz said the people of Maitland now “feel more secure in their health needs”.

Community vital to success

She said a campaign highlight was the combined union delegation to meet Health Minister Brad Hazzard at parliament house.

“We came armed with facts and we were able to counter the minister’s arguments,” she said.

“We pointed out that our community is one of the poorest in the state and also the fastest-growing. New subdivisions are being built and young families are moving to the area every day because there is now easier road access to Sydney and land is cheaper.

“The new hospital will be built two blocks from an existing private hospital and it didn’t make sense that you would duplicate private services while abolishing a public facility.

“We were due to meet for 45 minutes but the minister extended the meeting and listened to what we had to say.

“I walked out thinking, we’ve got this. We all felt we had done a good job to convince him of our case.”

Liz said the community element of the campaign was vital to its success.

“Community members came to all our rallies and meetings, helped us to collect signatures and came with us to Sydney to present the petition.

“Local businesses were happy to put our notices in their windows.”

She said the campaign has “revitalised” Maitland’s NSWNMA branch.

“A lot more people are coming to branch meetings and speaking out more. At the same time, we have stronger relations with other unions in the hospital.”

Members of the NSWNMA… share your thoughts on articles in the Lamp or anything else important to you as nurses and midwives by sending a Letter to the Editor. Four letters are published in the Lamp each month and the letter chosen as Letter of the Month will win a gift card. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. You can submit your letter by emailing the Lamp: lamp@nswnma.asn.au

 

Redeployment of an injured worker

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Question: I am an enrolled nurse at a public hospital but injured myself last year at work. It looks like I will not be able to return to my previous position but I am still able to undertake a range of duties. What are my rights to maintain employment?

Answer: Workers compensation legislation in NSW requires that as far as is practicable, every effort should be made to place an injured staff member into a position that is the same as, or equivalent to, their existing position to which they cannot return. A vacancy, for example, can be filled by the redeployment of an injured worker if they meet the selection criteria for the position or can within an agreed period, with training provided.

LHDs must have a process in place to identify injured workers and suitable positions for redeployment. This should occur prior to advertising. These obligations are also set out in Recruitment and Selection of Staff to the NSW Health Service (PD2015_026, Clause 2.3).