4 minute read
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 drawnout 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.
It is reprehensible the government postures NSW as “gold standard” and “world class”, yet it cries poor to the federal government and admits our public hospitals are in record demand with emergency departments “copping it” under bed-block.
Despite knowing this, the NSW government continues to put its health workforce on the backburner, rejecting our comprehensive claim for nurse-to-patient ratios and letting our health system, pay and conditions fall behind Queensland and Victoria.
Growing evidence proves ratios do have clear health and economic benefits. According to independent research published in The Lancet, Queensland’s legislated ratios have saved 145 lives and up to $70 million in taxpayer dollars in just the sample wards and units since their implementation in 2016.
In the aged care sector, we at least have bipartisan acceptance that staffing levels are inadequate and a commitment to mandate minimum staffing minutes. This is a significant gain in our campaign for ratios in aged care.
We’ve seen some minor improvements, thanks to ongoing pressure from unions, supportive politicians and media, alongside the work of the Royal Commission into Aged Care, yet there is still a long way to go to reform the sector. The federal government has largely failed to commit to much of the detail within the Commission’s final recommendations. Mandated minimum staffing should commence now rather than in 2023, and a registered nurse should be on-site 24 hours, not 16 hours, a day.
Forcing providers to publicly disclose care minutes for residents is a positive step, as is the drafting of a new Aged Care Act. However, the lack of transparency and accountability by providers for their use of billions of taxpayer dollars is an absolute failure by the government. We will continue to advocate for change on these issues.
After witnessing a tumultuous year for nurses and midwives, it’s been inspiring to see the dedication and commitment from members through these significant pressures. Our collectivism is shifting momentum and growing supporters.
The bravery and courage of our members who have engaged and are continuing to engage in industrial action in the fight for shift-by-shift nurse and midwife to patient ratios in our public health system is ever inspiring. We have committed to a fight that must carry on until we win.
FAREWELL JUDITH
I am deeply saddened to farewell our Assistant General Secretary, Judith Kiejda. A formidable nurse, midwife and trailblazing unionist, Judith has brought courage, passion, persistence and enthusiasm to her senior leadership role for 19 years. Judith will be dearly missed, although I’m sure she will continue to be a strong advocate for this union and our causes well into her retirement.
