Nurses and Midwives In Crisis

Nurse and Midwives

By Mayla Meru

The Liberal government has spent months convincing the public that the health system is fully capable of handling the current rise of COVID cases. It is more apparent every day that it is not. Within weeks of Dominic Perrottet taking over as Premier of NSW, it became clear that the government would be further moving its focus to the economy rather than public health and well being. This decision was evident when the NSW government refused to implement health orders to slow down the spread of Omicron. Instead, Perrottet passed the baton of care to the public under the guise of ‘personal responsibility.’

Letting the Omicron variant rip through the community is informed by ableist ideologies. Those who are chronically ill and disabled, those who are at the highest risk of contraction, serious illness and death from the virus, are treated as disposable. Their deaths, discounted. This policy approach has been rightfully described as indirect eugenics.

On the 19th of January NSW COVID hospitalization rates reached a new high of 2,863. The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association [NSWNMA] spoke out about the impact of these hospitalization rates on public hospitals. They explained that due to the high number of health workers that are close contacts or COVID positive, many nurses and midwives are being forced to cancel annual leave, work overtime and regularly work double-shifts. These conditions put immense physical and mental pressure on essential workers and places both workers and patients in danger.

Despite demands for change, the NSW premier has continued to declare that the NSW health system “remains strong”. This statement does not reflect the reality of the current working conditions for NSW nurses and midwives. Most recently on the 19th of January, a protest was held at Sydney’s Westmead hospital demanding action. Westmead staff are being pressured to take on excessive amounts of overtime, work up to 20 hour long double shifts, and are often unable to take proper breaks. The NSWNMA is demanding the government be honest with the public and “concede the health system is not coping”.

Throughout the pandemic, the NSWNMA has campaigned for safe nurse-to-patient ratios (one-to-four on ward floors, oneto-three in emergency wards and one-toone in ICU), a wage increase of 4.7%, and pandemic pay. The NSW government has ignored these calls, instead insultingly

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How you can support nurses and midwives:

Support nurses and midwives by attending strikes and protests to call on the government for industrial change. If you are unable to come in person to protests and strikes you can also support the campaign by following NSWNMA and APA|NSW on social media or sign up at ratioslifeordeath.org.au to receive updates through email. You can also search NurseKeeper or go to agreennsw.good.do/nursekeeper/action/ to send a letter to the NSW Premier demanding immediate action to support NSW nurses and paramedics.

offering nurses and midwives a pay rise of only 1.5%. The NSWNMA is also calling on the NSW Premier to introduce ‘pandemic pay’ (as seen in Victoria) which would mean nurses and midwives in public hospitals receive an extra payment of $30 per shift. Such a pay rise would at least acknowledge the extra work and extreme working conditions that the most recent COVID wave has caused.

Not meeting the demands of the NSWNMA and other frontline workers can result in life-threatening consequences for patients. Nurses and midwives across NSW have recently spoken out, explaining how lack of government support for health workers is directly affecting patient welfare, “... patient safety is being compromised as fatigued nurses and midwives regularly work overtime to meet chronic staffing shortfalls.” Outrage ensued across the state after many nurses came forward, detailing how they had been asked to work while COVID positive if asymptomatic, in order to combat staffing shortages. Such a request puts other health workers and patients in harm’s way. In some instances, hospitals have even been forced to treat COVID patients in the same spaces as non-COVID patients. This severe lack of preparation by the health sector and the federal government has put all aspects of the public health system under severe strain.

The government is currently relying on nurses and midwives to work in unsafe conditions in order to keep the public safe. For public health and wellbeing, it is more important now than ever that the demands made by the NSWNMA are met.