I recently started working in a hospital operated by Healthscope after starting my career in the public health system. What is in place to assist with managing workloads in this hospital?

Clause 40 of the Healthscope and NSWNMA/ANMF – NSW Nurses and Midwives’ – Enterprise Agreement 2015–2019 contains the framework that should be adopted to ensure that staffing levels are sufficient to deliver high-quality patient care and a safe working environment for staff. This is required to take a number of factors into account, including occupancy, patient acuity, skill mix and specialisation that may be required, along with the geography and layout of the facility.

Workload matters can be included for discussion at ward/unit meetings, although any nurse or midwife who believes that workloads are unreasonably heavy on a regular basis can raise such concerns with their manager and have a response provided within 48 hours if at all possible. The clause also sets out how matters may be escalated if they remain in dispute.