western sydney lhd

Western Sydney Rallies for ratios

May 18, 2021 by Rayan Calimlim Leave a Comment

Nurses and midwives rallied outside four Western Sydney hospitals, outraged by the NSW government’s rejection of nurse-to-patient ratios across the state.

The government’s refusal of any workplace improvements has prompted nine branches of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) to participate in rallies outside Auburn, Mount Druitt, Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals, along with community nurses from across the region.

NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Judith Kiejda, said members were fed up their calls for safe patient ratios had been ignored for a decade.

“The NSW government is refusing to support nurses and midwives who are run off their feet and buckling under excessive workloads,” Ms Kiejda said.

“Our members tell us they are regularly working short-staffed, unable to replace sick leave at short notice, and many nursing vacancies are being left unfilled.

“The NSW government has the power to improve patient safety in our hospitals. It must follow Queensland, Victoria and the ACT by introducing shift-by-shift ratios, improved conditions and fair pay.”

Blacktown nurses and midwives ordered back to work

November 20, 2020 by Rayan Calimlim 1 Comment

After five hours of deliberations in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) last night, more than 150 nurses and midwives have been sent back to work inside Blacktown Hospital.

Orders were served against the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) and its members around 10.30pm for the strike action to end.

Pushed to the brink by management inaction amid serious safety concerns across the hospital’s maternity services, nurses and midwives voted at 4pm yesterday to walk out for 24 hours, and demand staffing is increased to safe levels.

NSWNMA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said Western Sydney Local Health District had known the extent of the concerns raised by NSWNMA members for some time and failed to act, resulting in yesterday’s extraordinary walk out.

“The widespread problems at Blacktown Hospital have been well known by hospital management, yet they continued to exploit the goodwill of nurses and midwives and ignore the dire situation that is rife within maternity services,” said Mr Holmes.

“Our members felt compelled to speak out and demand safe levels of patient care is restored across the hospital urgently.

“After working understaffed for so long, these midwives are traumatised, exhausted and burning out. Working with a safe level of staffing is vital for delivering the best health outcomes for patients, as well as the staff.

“Our members refused to continue working in unsafe conditions or an environment that puts their professional registrations at risk.

“This situation urgently needs attention to make sure trust and confidence between hospital management and all the staff can be restored.

“We are therefore calling on the Health Minister, Brad Hazzard, to intervene and ensure adequate midwifery staffing and resources are expedited to Blacktown Hospital’s maternity services.

“Under order by the IRC, our members have returned to work, back into a dire situation that management at Blacktown Hospital can no longer ignore.

“The Blacktown community deserves access to safe patient care at their hospital and should demand nothing less.”

The IRC orders and directions can be found here.

Doubts cling to palliative care privatisation

November 29, 2017 by Rayan Calimlim

Questions in Western Sydney over Silver Chain funding and care arrangements.

Aleading palliative care specialist and advocate has questioned the funding and model of care involved in the privatisation of community-based palliative care services in Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD).

Dr Yvonne McMaster, a retired palliative care specialist who received the Order of Australia Medal, campaigns for increased palliative care funding in NSW.

She collected over 86,000 signatures on a petition for the cause.

Dr McMaster wants to know why WSLHD’s privatised service has been allocated almost 40 per cent of additional palliative care funding provided for the whole of NSW.

The Silver Chain Group took over in-home palliative care services in WSLHD in July.

The government says the contract to care for people needing palliative care in the last three months of life, is expected to be worth $80 million over seven years.

The June state budget included a $100 million increase in palliative care funding over the next four years.

In her newsletter Push for Palliative Dr. McMaster said $38.9 million of the increased funding would go to Silver Chain for services in WSLHD.

She wrote: “Being just one LHD and representing only 7 per cent of the NSW population, while costing 38.9 per cent of the total $100m enhancements for NSW, we ask whether the other 14 LHDs will see similar enhancements.”

Other LHDs shortchanged

She told The Lamp, “It’s a lot of money to spend on one LHD. Other LHDs have been shortchanged because they are getting what’s left over. Fourteen of them will have to share the remaining $61 million.”

She said palliative care services in the other 14 LHDs were mainly provided by public health services
in combination with non-government organisations under long-established partnerships.

“The Silver Chain arrangement is part of a social impact investment which is supposed to save money for the government. But I don’t see those savings coming back to palliative care.”

‘Social impact investment’ is an increasingly common euphemism for privatisation and contracting out, which – as surveys show – the public overwhelmingly oppose.

Dr McMaster said the public health system in western Sydney once provided 24-hour home visits to palliative care patients but the service had gradually been cut back.

Her newsletter noted: “We are pleased to learn this (Silver Chain) service will offer patients in Western Sydney 24/7 access to palliative care, including home visits by RNs in the last three months of life – though we note this was available in WSLHD years ago before being cut, and find it troubling that the medical aspect of this new service will be mainly delivered by GPs.”

“We contend that a model which employs specialist physicians, nurses, and allied health, with end-of-life home care and 24/7 palliative care access to home visits, should be the focus of investment for the other 14 LHDs.

“This model could be provided for a fraction of the cost of the WSLHD investment, with similar savings, and greater support.”

Westmead ward closed despite bed shortage

November 29, 2017 by Rayan Calimlim

A major western Sydney hospital loses a ward and more than 40 nurses.

Westmead Hospital nurses have called on the state government to provide adequate funding to allow Westmead
Hospital to reopen a 29-bed surgical ward that was shut down with one week’s notice.

The hospital’s NSWNMA branch says the ear, nose and throat; head and neck; and plastics surgical ward, known as B3A, was closed to reduce overall staff numbers and cut costs.

The branch rejected Western Sydney Local Health District’s stated and conflicting explanations for the sudden closure of the ward and transfer of its 47 nurses to vacant positions throughout the hospital.

More than 200 angry nurses rallied outside the hospital in protest against the decision.

Westmead branch delegate Liwayway Besilos said the closure was announced with no consultation and staff were given no time to discuss the impacts on the rest of the hospital.

Nurses were given just one week to advise management where they wished to be transferred to, and not all requests were met.

Unofficial advice to nurses from management confirmed the closure was aimed at reducing the LHD’s budget deficit.

“This explanation is supported by the fact that other areas of the hospital are cutting back on paid overtime and working short-staffed,” Liwayway said.

“The hospital has effectively lost more than 40 full-time positions not including an educator, nurse unit manager and auxiliary staff.”

Western Sydney’s population is increasing

Following the nurses and midwives’ rally the WSLHD LHD executive, Danny O’Connor, said: “It was a terrible winter with the flu season but we don’t need as many beds so we have closed a ward due to demand dropping off.”

Liwayway said that explanation made no sense.

“First, B3A was a specialty surgical ward. The nurses there were familiar with surgeons’ protocols on how to care for their patients post-operatively and these patients would now be placed somewhere else.

“Secondly, members have reported that patients are staying longer in recovery and having to spend the night in day-only areas because there is a shortage of beds to go to in the wards.

“Post-op patients are having to wait longer to go to recovery, which is not the way it should be done.

“The population of western Sydney is increasing, demand for health care is going up, and the government is building a new Westmead hospital facility, which they said was needed to accommodate a growing population. Yet, the WSLHD is closing beds and cutting nursing positions.”