The Minns government should look at what causes so many psychological injuries in the health service rather than making it harder for staff to access workers compensation.
Pippa* was the first clinician on the scene when a critical incident occurred in a NSW acute mental health unit in 2014.
Psychological injury later forced Pippa to be medically retired.
Her 40-year career as a registered nurse ended nine years earlier than her planned retirement age.
However, it wasn’t the critical incident that caused Pippa’s injury.
“I didn’t feel badly affected by the incident – I dealt with it as most nurses do,” she said.
“It was the way the management of the mental health service treated me and my colleagues after the
incident that forced me and others to retire early.
“They gave us little care, compassion or consideration of what we had been through.
“They committed multiple breaches of their own policy concerning management of critical incidents and duty of care to staff involved.
“I was the NSWNMA delegate, and when I tried to facilitate workplace safety, I was accused of trying to stir up trouble and having time management issues.
“It was typical of the bullying culture inside the health service.”
Three months after the critical incident, the stress brought about by management’s attitude and failure in its duty of care, forced Pippa to go on workers compensation leave.
“Management’s behaviour resulted in about four of us being on workers comp,” she said.
Processes exacerbated the anxiety
After six weeks on workers comp, Pippa asked to return to work to a vacant position which she was qualified for, in a different area within the Local Health District.
“The GP and psychologist advised me not to return to my old unit because the same managers who caused my stress were still there.
“Despite this, management refused to allow me to transfer to any available position.
“I was a veteran nurse with three certificates and two master degrees and despite my repeated requests they couldn’t find me a job anywhere.
“I believe it was because I was the union delegate and was outspoken about safety issues.
“While I was on workers comp the Local Health District stopped my compensation payments without the insurance company’s knowledge and made false statements about me to the insurance company.
“They also cut off my work email despite the fact that I was still employed.”
The NSWNMA helped Pippa to resolve these issues in the Industrial Relations Commission.
However, her dealings with the LHD and the difficult return to work process caused her so much distress that the health professionals involved in her care advised her to leave all communications with the LHD to the NSWNMA Industrial Officer dealing with her case.
Pippa said she would strongly advise any nurse making a workers comp claim to get the NSWNMA involved as early as possible.
“The Union’s knowledge and support when going through something like this is invaluable,” she said.
Resolution comes with a gag
After five years on workers comp, Pippa launched a work damages claim in the NSW Industrial Commission.
Her claim maintained that the health service had failed in its duty of care – including by refusing to offer her any available job.
The court action dragged on for two years – which made her injury worse – until the health service offered an out of court financial settlement with a non-disclosure clause, which she reluctantly accepted.
“They settle out of court because they don’t want it on the public record,” Pippa said.
“The gag clause means nurses and other workers don’t get to tell their story, management never have to learn from their mistakes and the whole thing just keeps repeating.
“In my situation and I believe it to be true in many cases, the managers within NSW Health are not accountable and instead blame the nurses who are working within a failed system much of the time.
“It is time stories like mine are told and management are made to face up to the practices that cause so many psychological injuries.”
Changes to workers comp legislation currently proposed in NSW would force people to prove a psychological injury by going through the Industrial Relations Commission.
Pippa said: “That would just make the whole process more difficult and exacerbate their injuries.”
“There are already so many hurdles to navigate when negotiating workers compensation claims, and when it’s a psychological injury, workers often don’t feel up to the challenge and resign, which seems to be what NSW Health is aiming for.”
Pippa referred to the 2008 Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals, also known as the Garling inquiry.
“Garling found that a culture of blame, bullying and harassment existed in NSW Health,” she said.
“From what I hear, 17 years on, nothing much has changed.
“Nurses are rarely valued or appreciated, and instead of looking for ways to fix a broken system, the Treasurer is proposing even bigger hurdles for injured workers to access the compensation they are entitled to.
“If the current workers comp insurance system is unsustainable, the government should look at what is causing the number of psychological injuries and fix a broken system, rather than punishing the workers which is what NSW Health seems to do.
“Instead of acknowledging systemic failures, through root cause analysis and examinations of critical incidents – which in my experience are simply box ticking exercises – the buck usually stops with nurses on the floor.
“Time and time again systemic failures are swept under the carpet, and nurses are the fall guys.
“It seems that in NSW Health, there always has to be a scapegoat.”
*Name changed for legal reasons.
She constantly reprimanded me for being too slow with the medications, attending to wounds when she thought I ought to be doing something else or for having to stay back after my shift to catch up with the progress notes. Her change of employment coincided with my defiant determination to prove I was a confident, capable nurse, about halfway through the new grad year.