Burnt-out nurses set to sue State Government

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“Delays in clinical care can lead to sub-optimal patient outcomes such as increased falls risks, hospital acquired infections like pneumonia, pressure area sores and blood clots.”

About 40 workers took part in the Gosford rally, with some driving down from Wyong Hospital to join the protest.

Local NSWNMA member Kelly Falconer said poor staffing levels were seeing thousands of nursing hours missed.

“Gosford Hospital had 83,000 missing over the four years, Wyong Hospital had 38,000,” she said.

“That means patients are missing out on care every shift every day– it’s not good enough.

“Patients are falling over, developing pressure areas, not getting toileted, fed or showered – their basic human rights are not being met.

“The State Government tells us this is a world-class health system – it is not.

“We need to retain the few staff who are left and to do that we need proper nurse-patient ratios and a fair wage rise.

“Our wage rises have been frozen for 10 years and we just can’t cope.”

Meg Pendrick said things were at a critical stage and the system was set to implode.

“We really need this government to step up for our community and our patients,” she said.

“This system is not even the best in Australia.”

In its prosecution case, the NSWNMA will argue patients at multiple major hospitals have missed out on almost 120,000 hours of nursing care due to systemic understaffing.

“Our case highlights Gosford Hospital as the worst offender for staffing breaches, with 777 Award contraventions over a four-year period,” Candish said.

The prosecution Statement of Claim details 1,484 contraventions across 10 principal referral hospitals (Peer Group 1A) over recent months and years.

The Supreme Court case could result in significant financial penalties if the State is found to have contravened the various public health awards.