safe staffing

The rollout of ratios has started with EDs at Liverpool and Royal North Shore Hospitals in the vanguard and recruitment for the new positions under way.

It has been a lengthy process as we have methodically worked our way through the detail but, finally, we are starting to see our long and hard-fought campaign for ratios come to fruition.

The reform has kicked off in Liverpool and Royal North Shore ED with both sites each receiving an additional 35 FTEs. Recruitment has commenced and members are already experiencing the benefits of these additional nurses in their units.

The remaining level 5 and 6 EDs will commence their ratios rollout in the next 6 months. Discussions will then turn to Level 3 and 4 EDs, ICU, Maternity, wards converting to NHPPD and MPSs. (This does not indicate the roll out order).

This is a major victory for patient safety, but also, this reform finally starts to acknowledge and value you and the incredible work you do.

There is still a long way to go, as we fight for more funding from the government to ensure ratios are implemented in every ward and every unit across the five areas as the government promised. We will continue our fight for ratios in all other clinical areas across our public health system.

In a busy month we not only kick started the roll out of ratios, but we also lodged our log of claims for the Public Health System Award for 2024.

The claim seeks important improvements and sets out a plan to return NSW Health to being an employer of choice for nurses and midwives across Australia.

This will be critical if the ratios rollout is to be successful.

The claim was put together with direct input from members, and it was endorsed by an unprecedented number of members in a vote held in April 2024.

The claim calls for a 15 per cent pay rise, more funding for nurse-to- patient ratios and improved working conditions.

The log of claims committee settled on a 15 per cent figure after examining extensive data and assessing circumstances since the wages cap was introduced in 2011. It considered the spike in inflation and the productivity gains that we’ve consistently missed out on. It drew on the knowledge and experience of respected Industrial Relations experts.

15 per cent is a reasonable goal but we will still need to campaign hard to achieve it. On the one hand it is ambitious, as combined with the implementation of ratios it calls on

the government to make a substantial investment in our public health system. But it is also reasonable and responsible when considering our analysis of what is needed to attract nurses and midwives back into the system after a decade of wage suppression and the barely believable burdens placed on the nursing and midwifery workforces during COVID.

As always, we will need the support of the community and we will need to articulate our case well to galvanise their support.

A STEP FORWARD ON PAID PLACEMENTS

In this edition of the Lamp, we also look at the difficult financial situation faced by many undergraduate nursing and midwifery students during their hundreds of hours of mandatory unpaid clinical placements.

During these placements, students are expected to fund their own travel and accommodation on top of the loss of wages from their regular job.

Unsurprisingly, this leads to a high dropout rate, hardly a sensible or desirable outcome when we need all hands on deck to meet the challenges in implementing ratios.

The federal government has announced it will establish a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” of $319.50 per week to support nursing, midwifery and other tertiary students during mandatory workplace placements.

This is clearly insufficient to properly alleviate this existing “placement poverty” but it is a welcome first step and at least a recognition of the existence of the problem.

Finally, I would like to commend to you an article on Voluntary Assisted Dying. Staff from the Nepean/Blue Mountains LHD tell us how much appreciated nurses are by patients and families as they navigate this difficult process.

Nurses can be proud of their role in making this final part of a person’s life full of kindness, compassion and respect.

We can also take pride in our union and our campaigning efforts that helped to bring VAD into existence. It is heartening to know that a discussion about such a sensitive issue with many differing views can be conducted with intelligence and tolerance and with the wellbeing and wishes of patients the goal of public policy.