Around 160 nurses and midwives travelled from the Central Coast on February 15 to join a mass rally as nurses across NSW walked off the job demanding Premier Dominic Perrottet resolve the staffing crisis in public hospitals.
Nurses from Gosford and Wyong Hospitals, Long Jetty Health Care Centre and Central Coast Mental Health Nurses walked off the job for 12 hours from 7am, with Central Coast Community Health nurses joining the action for eight hours from 8am.
NSWNMA Gosford Hospital Branch President Meg Pendrick said staffing levels were the major concern for the industrial action.
Striking nurses were also asking for a fair pay rise above 2.5 per cent as recognition of their workloads during the pandemic and withdrawal of an amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Act that would force workers to prove they contracted COVID-19 at work.
“We have been concerned about staffing for years – the levels just don’t accommodate the need,” Pendrick said.
“On the Coast we are getting busier, people are getting older and experiencing more chronic conditions requiring repeat admissions and there are also a lot of young families needing medical care.
“The number of nurses we have just doesn’t cover it.
“I often arrive for a shift where there should be eight nurses and there and maybe five or six with a couple of them on overtime.
“There are huge rates of burnout and we keep asking ‘where are the nurses?’.
“Those who could have left and the young ones come in and you can see the horror on their faces: many of them decide they can’t work full-time.
“COVID has highlighted a system already stretched; you just can’t keep taking nurses off the floor.
“The whole system needs overhaul and we have gone to every avenue possible to try to get this fixed – striking is always a last resort.”
Pendrick said nurses were sick of being told levels were adequate and they were coping.
“I’m working in it and I’m not OK; I’m not coping,” she said.
“You can run on adrenalin for a while but not month after month.
“The fatigue levels are huge and mistakes will happen.
“We have to do so many tasks there isn’t the time for real person-centred care and that’s not nursing.
“We are sick of our concerns not even being acknowledged – we’re all just really tired.”
As thousands of NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members took part in more than 20 rallies across the state, General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said they had reached the end of their goodwill and were desperate for the government to listen to their pleas for nurse-to-patient ratios.
“Nurses and midwives have signalled how fed up they are with the NSW Government for ignoring the need for nurse-to-patient ratios, similar to those already working successfully in Queensland and Victoria,” he said.
“The staffing crisis in health won’t simply go away on its own.
“COVID-19 has only exacerbated the failings of our health system.
“What we’re asking for is not unreasonable; nurse-to-patient ratios do save lives and result in better patient outcomes.”
Holmes said although the NSW Industrial Relations Commission issued dispute orders and directions against the NSWNMA on February 14, the NSWNMA Council supported the decision of public sector branches to take industrial action statewide.
He said during the strike, life-preserving services were maintained in all public hospitals and health services.
The NSWNMA reiterated its ongoing willingness to hold discussions with the NSW Premier but has not ruled out further actions over the coming months.
A NSW Health spokesperson said the strike caused “minor disruptions and delays” to health services throughout the state.
“These disruptions and delays mainly related to elective surgeries and some community health services,” the spokesperson said.
“Despite the strike action instigated by the union, in defiance of the Industrial Relations Commission’s Orders, our hospitals maintained life-preserving staff.
“Local Health Districts also had plans in place to minimise disruptions and delays in public hospitals, and to ensure all those in need of emergency and urgent care continued to receive it as quickly as possible.
“The NSW Government and NSW Health have engaged in talks with the union and remain committed to reaching a resolution in the best interests of our patients and all our healthcare workers.”
Terry Collins
Gosford hospital has chronic nursing shortages.every shift nurses are doing overtime.workloads are excessive resulting in task nursing.am exhausted from rushing, working on adrenaline and feeling totally overwhelmed.i have been nursing 30yrs.