From the Secretary

We all know the past two years of the pandemic have been incredibly difficult for Nurses, Midwives and Assistants in Nursing (AINs).

During this time, and with months turning into years, we have been ever hopeful that we had reached the peak and seen the worst of the pandemic, but this hasn’t been the case.

We all felt the relief that came with a, much sooner than we expected, vaccine breakthrough however, unfortunately that was short lived as the Omicron variant emerged and swept through our communities, colleagues, friends and family members leading to increased cases, hospitalisations, and tragically, deaths. We are starting to see encouraging signs with high vaccination rates for adults and children and hope this will enable us to get through the latest COVID challenge and hospitalisation rates will soon begin to stabilise and then fall.

There is still a lot we don’t know about the virus, particularly in relation to any new variants, but there are some cautious words of encouragement from epidemiologists about being ‘over the worst’ of the pandemic. Naturally, we’re all hoping that this optimism comes to fruition.

Our members have been at the front line of the pandemic response and have time and time again, given everything that has been asked of them. However, we know that fatigue amongst health care workers has set in and many experts are expressing concerns about the long-term psychological impact on the health care workforce.

We also know, from members’ feedback, that this is true of our own workforce in the ACT. The ANMF ACT Branch has already commenced work on understanding the full impact the pandemic has had on our members and we will continue to pursue safe workplaces for Nurses, Midwives and AINs.

Our members, across the public, private and aged care sectors, have also told us that they won’t accept a return to unacceptable workloads once the worst of the pandemic has passed. Our public sector members’ recent win in achieving Mandated Minimum Nurse/Midwife-to-Patient Ratios is a critical first step in making workplaces safer for patients and members. Work is already underway to roll-out mandated minimum ratios in other areas of the public sector that were not included under the first phase roll-out. Our members can rightly feel proud of this win after such a long campaign.

Finally, at this time of the year, we want to acknowledge and welcome all the new Nurse and Midwife graduates who are beginning their transition into the workplace as they embark on their chosen careers. We know it can be an exciting, but daunting, time and we encourage our members to support each and every new Nurse and Midwife as they navigate the complexities and challenges of the health and aged care systems. These new recruits are the future of our professions and we must invest in making their transition a successful one.

Don’t forget to encourage your new colleagues to join the ANMF ACT — we’re here to support them too.

With a focus on early careers, we hope you enjoy this edition of Observations, where some of our members have shared their own journeys, pathways, and experiences joining the industry.

Matthew Daniel

ANMF ACT Secretary