YEAR IN REVIEW Brett Holmes, General Secretary
It’s been another challenging year for nurses and midwives in NSW, amidst an insidious pandemic attempting to rattle our resolve. To best support members, the Association has maintained a focus on the goals within our three-year strategic plan. One year in, we are halfway towards achieving our membership goal of 75,000 and already growing our collective strength, empowering members to advocate for their rights. On a global scale, we should have celebrated the work of nurses and midwives for International Year of the Nurse and Midwife last year, yet tragically we mourn the thousands of health and care workers who have lost their lives to COVID-19. Every day of this pandemic, nurses and midwives have fronted up in response, despite the risks and personal sacrifice. Each one who has contracted COVID-19 is one too many and highlights the dangers they face keeping the public safe. Although fortunate to not have experienced the devastation seen in other countries, nurses and midwives in NSW have endured limited access to adequate personal protective equipment, a drawn-
4
2020 – 2021 Annual Report
out and confusing vaccine rollout and, for public sector workers, ongoing cuts to real wage outcomes with no improvements in working conditions. Our regional health services are in desperate need of more support and we welcome the Inquiry into Health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote NSW. Poor staffing and skill mix is the number one issue for members working in these areas with nurses and midwives routinely working in isolation, reliance on colleagues to provide unpaid on-call support, skill shortages, inadequate security and transport services, lack of medical cover and limited access to continuing education. The NSW government is relying heavily on nurses and midwives to carry, not just the responsibility of saving people’s lives, but also the economic burden in the aftermath of the pandemic. Cutting real wages and contracting the superannuation savings of nurses and midwives is morally disgraceful, callous, and makes no economic sense. It also threatens the sustainability of these professions for future generations.
