Lamp April 2019 by NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association

FEDERAL ELECTION

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

REGULARS

Inequality is a drag on our economy

Health care needs a fairer tax system

Breathing the black stuff

Your rights and entitlements at work Nurse Uncut – your stories What nurses and midwives said Nursing research online

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page 22

page 28

p.37 p.39 p.41 p.43

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NSW NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION VOLUME 76 NO. 3 APRIL 2019

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NO TIME TO WAIT FOR AGED CARE RATIOS

COVER STORY

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2 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

CONTENTS Contacts NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association For all membership enquiries and assistance, including The Lamp subscriptions and change of address, contact our Sydney office. Sydney Office 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017 (all correspondence) T 8595 1234 (metro) 1300 367 962 (non-metro) F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au W www.nswnma.asn.au

VOLUME 76 NO. 3 APRIL 2019

Hunter Office 8–14 Telford Street, Newcastle East NSW 2300 NSWNMA Communications Manager Janaki Chellam-Rajendra T 1300 367 962

For all editorial enquiries letters and diary dates T 8595 1234 E lamp@nswnma.asn.au 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017

COVER STORY ANMF puts case for mandatory staffing levels

Produced by Hester Communications T 9568 3148 Press Releases Send your press releases to: F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au Editorial Committee Brett Holmes, NSWNMA General Secretary Judith Kiejda, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary O’Bray Smith, NSWNMA President Michelle Cashman, Long Jetty Continuing Care Richard Noort, Justice Health Advertising Danielle Nicholson T 8595 2139 or 0429 269 750 F 9662 1414 E dnicholson@nswnma.asn.au Information & Records Management Centre To find archived articles from The Lamp, or to borrow from the NSWNMA nursing and health collection, contact: Jeannette Bromfield, Coordinator. T 8595 2175 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au The Lamp ISSN: 0047-3936 General Disclaimer The Lamp is the official magazine of the NSWNMA. Views expressed in articles are contributors’ own and not necessarily those of the NSWNMA. Statements of fact are believed to be true, but no legal responsibility is accepted for them. All material appearing in The Lamp is covered by copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission. The NSWNMA takes no responsibility for the advertising appearing herein and it does not necessarily endorse any products advertised. Privacy Statement The NSWNMA collects personal information from members in order to perform our role of representing their industrial and professional interests. We place great emphasis on maintaining and enhancing the privacy and security of your personal information. Personal information is protected under law and can only be released to someone else where the law requires or where you give permission. If you have concerns about your personal information, please contact the NSWNMA office. If you are still not satisfied that your privacy is being maintained, you can contact the Privacy Commission. Subscriptions for 2019 Free to all Association members. Professional members can subscribe to the magazine at a reduced rate of $30. Individuals $84, Institutions $140, Overseas $150.

Rising workloads and low pay force nurses and carers to abandon careers in aged care.

ELECTION ISSUES: INEQUALITY Inequality is a drag on our economy

16 18

International economic institutions and Australian experts say reducing inequality is essential to a stronger economy yet Australian politics is hooked on the discredited philosophy of trickle-down economics.

ELECTION ISSUES: WAGES Stagnant wages a vital election issue

With wage growth stuck at around two per cent a year Labor has promised to deliver a fairer wages system.

ELECTION ISSUES: CHANGE THE RULES Labor backs our push to Change the Rules

The coming federal election is an opportunity to win fairer work arrangements and more secure jobs.

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Editorial Your letters Competition News in brief NSWNMA Education Ask Judith Nurse Uncut Facebook Nursing Research Online and Professional Issues Crossword Book Club At the Movies Diary Dates

ELECTION ISSUES: SUPER Coalition fails to damage Industry Super

The Liberal-National Party government and big banks have waged a long campaign to weaken industry superannuation, the system which most nurses rely on to accumulate retirement income.tios

ELECTION ISSUES: TAX Health care needs a fairer tax system

Wealthy Australians to get tax cuts as hospitals beg for funds.

REGULARS

FEDERAL ELECTION

Inequality is a drag on our economy

Health care needs a fairer tax system

page 14

page 22

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

REGULARS

Breathing the black stuff

Your rights and entitlements at work Nurse Uncut – your stories What nurses and midwives said Nursing research online

page 28

p.37 p.39 p.41 p.43

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NSW NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION VOLUME 76 NO. 3 APRIL 2019

ELECTION ISSUES: CLIMATE CHANGE Time’s up on climate stalling

Health experts, scientists and economists have rung the alarm bells on climate change for years but powerful interests in parliament, the media and business have paralysed climate change policy.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Breathing the black stuff

In a new report on the health effects of the coal industry in the Hunter Valley, the NSWNMA has recommended a widespread community education campaign.

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NO TIME TO WAIT FOR AGED CARE RATIOS

OUR COVER: Lynette Mitchell, Christine Spangler and Tatiana Grant Photographed by Sharon Hickey THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 3

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EDITORIAL

Brett

Holmes GENERAL SECRETARY

Our campaign will still deliver more nurses and midwives Now that the Liberal National Coalition has been re-elected in NSW we will need to keep them honest about their commitment to fund more nurses and midwives in the public health system. As The Lamp goes to press the Liberal National government has just been re-elected in the NSW state election. The tireless efforts of nurses and midwives during the election campaign resulted in the Association achieving unprecedented commitments from both major parties in the lead up to Saturday’s state election. The Labor Party committed to a comprehensive ratios plan that matched our analysis of what was needed for the NSW public health system so much so that we for the first time, advocated a vote for Labor as the only way to achieve this strategic goal. The Liberal– National Coalition committed to an extra 890 nurses and midwives above already budgeted growth, leaving the distribution up to the Local Health Districts and the current Nursing Hours Per Patient Day model. While they did not go as far as Labor in committing to shift-byshift ratios in law, their published policy says it will deliver an additional 893 nurses and 48 midwives over four years on top of those required to meet normal growth. We don’t believe this is nearly enough but I believe it has only occurred as a result of members campaigning for ratios. Members have told us not to stop until we achieve ratios on all shifts, city and country, so we will continue to campaign for safe staffing and a new ratios system. Without shift-by-shift ratios in the Award, we will need to enforce the

‘ I thank each and every one of you who have supported the campaign. We are a stronger union for your efforts.’ current nursing hours per patient day formula to ensure it functions in the spirit in which it was first promised – as a ratios equivalent. We will need to be vigilant and assertive to ensure those extra nurses and midwives do end up at the bedside. While working with a Liberal– National government will be challenging for us, it will not be insurmountable. We welcome the opportunity to continue working with any government on behalf of our members and for the interests of the patients they care for. I want to send out a big thank you to all those NSWNMA members who volunteered during our campaign. Your hard work, support and dedication did not go unnoticed by the major parties and, as a result, nurses and midwives are recognised as a force to be reckoned with. Do not feel disheartened. Remember, Governments come and go, but nurses and midwives always remain the backbone of the public health system and we will continue to campaign for safe patient care no matter who is in office. We do so because we know it is in the best interests of our community and of our members. I thank each and every one of you who have supported the campaign. We are a stronger union for your efforts.

LET’S MAKE RATIOS IN AGED CARE A FEDERAL ELECTION ISSUE In this issue of The Lamp we give you a report on the proceedings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care (pp 8–13) and we also look at other federal election issues that will impact on nurses and midwives. The Royal Commission has heard a lot of uncomfortable realities about the state of the aged care sector. They have also been given this key insight from multiple sources: that the presence of registered nurses is critical in aged care while the declining role of RNs is the biggest issue for the sector. This was a message that was strongly emphasised by academics and doctors as well as the ANMF. Annie Butler, the ANMF federal secretary, spent more than two hours giving evidence to the Commission. She described the “untenable” workloads faced by RNs, ENs and AiNs which is forcing them out of the sector. We want aged care to be a prominent issue in the federal election and for all parties to commit to ratios in aged care. I urge you to join our campaign to Make Ratios Law in Aged Care a federal election issue. Please go to www.ratiosforagedcare.com.au and register your support. n

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 5

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YOUR LETTERS

Have your

Say

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Go the NSWNMA!

Now the state election is done and dusted, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you. Thank you to the Association for all of your help over the past year, as we navigated a myriad of obstacles in our mental health unit. Thank you for the advice and support we received in winning the battle to cease overnight assessments. We continue to have some other issues, such as skewed spot-checks, but we are so grateful for the Association’s efforts in securing a commitment from NSW Labor to introduce minimum, mandated nurse-to-patient ratios of 1:4 in adult acute inpatient mental health. We often have a ratio of up to 1:9 on day and afternoon shifts, so minimum ratios in mental health is vital. Thank you again. GO THE NSWNMA!! Jenny Aubrey RN Editor's note: We got the commitments from Labor because of our campaign efforts over the past few years. While the outcome of this election didn’t go our way, we will continue to fight for nurse-topatient ratios.

Letter of the month The letter judged the best each month will win a $50 Coles Group & Myer gift card! Union Shopper offers members BIG savings on a wide range of products! * Excludes books, Littmann Stethoscopes, Fashion Biz and Specials. Not valid in conjunction with any other offers or promotions. Offer valid until midnight 31st March 2020 for NSWNMA Members. Competition opens 1 April 2019 and closes 30 April 2019. The prize is drawn on 3 May 2019. If a redraw is required for an unclaimed prize it must be held up to 3 months original 6 | THEfrom LAMPthe APRIL 2019 draw date. NSW Permit no: LTPM/19/04224.

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If there’s something on your mind, send us a letter and have your say. The letter of the month will WIN a gift card Respect the 10-hour break I have been reading a lot lately about nurses burnout. Amongst that reading there is a common theme of the toll of the “quick shifts”. Over years past, many battles have been fought and won by NSWNMA to address issues around fatigue. One of the wins was having the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives’ (State) Award Clause 4 (iv) being altered to state: “................. with not less than 10 hours break between each rostered shift, unless agreed otherwise between an employee and local nursing management.” Despite this, I constantly hear about and see nurses waiving/signing away their right to a 10-hour break between shifts which does include the break after a double shift. Many times it’s a gentle suggestion to waive it by management or nurses see most other nurses are doing “quick shifts” so agree to do the same. As a NSWNMA branch official I was involved in the process of fighting for this condition in the award and I feel really disappointed to see nurses not adhering to the 10-hour break. I respect it is a personal choice but it is time that nurses started using the current conditions in our Award as a way to partly address their burnout. Sue Irene White, EEN

Not giving up My co-workers and I were united and fought hard for nurse to patient ratios. We did everything we could over five months. We met with politicians, door knocked, did pledges, handed out flyers to everyone, held rallies, did phone banking, polled in the election and basically did everything we could to get the word out. We lost.

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO: Editorial Enquiries EMAIL lamp@nswnma.asn.au fax 9662 1414   MAIL 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017. Please include a high-resolution photo along with your name, address, phone and membership number. Letters may be edited for clarity and space. Anonymous letters will not be published.

It doesn’t help that we now have to wait at least three years to try again. We will rest and take time to recover, and then get together to work on future issues. Aislynn Kearney RN

Bothered by the baby bags So I was a little curious about how many staff could be employed with the money spent on the new baby bag so I did the math: • Junior staff member shift = one bag • Full time = 10 shifts a fortnight x 25 fortnight’s in a year = total 250 shifts a year • Nepean had 4001 baby’s last year = 4001 bags • 4001 x ÷ 250 = 16 full time jobs Until I did the maths I wasn’t too bothered by the bags... Alex Thomson, RN

Ignore the scare tactics I sat at morning tea yesterday and overheard a group of nurses talking about how ratios would bankrupt the health service. I chimed in that this is a scare tactic ... heard it all when the Victorian nurses union held out for ratios. Guess what? Victoria and Queensland still have a health service. I worked for years in Victoria and nursing was soooo much better for us and our patients with ratios (and the courage to close beds if staff not available). Maria Nethercott RN

Advertise in The Lamp and reach more than 66,000 nurses and midwives. To advertise contact Danielle Nicholson 02 8595 2139 / 0429 269 750 dnicholson@nswnma.asn.au

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 7

COVER STORY

ANMF puts case for mandatory staffing levels Rising workloads and low pay are forcing nurses and carers to abandon careers in aged care.

ompulsory minimum staffing levels with a mandated mix of skills are needed to overcome a workforce shortage in nursing homes, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has heard. Annie Butler, Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), told the commission that registered nurses, enrolled nurses and carers were increasingly leaving the sector due to impossible workloads. “What we hear most often from our members now is the increasing pressure they’re experiencing with workloads,” she said. “So many of them across the country describe their workloads now as unsafe; they’re untenable.” The ANMF is our national federation of eight state and territory-based nursing unions. During two hours in the witness box, Annie answered questions about the aged care industry and said there were no controls to ensure that government funds were actually spent on caring for nursing home residents.

8 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

‘I am saddened and disillusioned with aged care and fear for our vulnerable residents and the standard of care they are going to receive.’ — former nursing home RN She said workloads imposed by employers made it increasingly difficult for RNs to meet their professional obligations. The ANMF had commissioned research to establish a benchmark for the minimum staffing levels and skills mix required to ensure safe care. Economic analysis showed that staffing levels and skills mix recommended by the ANMF would, over time, be cost-neutral and transform the lives of many elderly people. Annie said low pay was also a barrier to attracting and retaining staff. The public health system, private hospitals and other systems offered more attractive pay, conditions and professional support and opportunities.

NOT ABLE TO GIVE HIGHSTANDARD CARE Counsel assisting the commission, Paul Bolster, read an account of why one experienced RN quit the aged care workforce. The nurse worked in senior management positions for a not-for -profit organisation. “Last year there was a roster review at the facility I was running and the organisation made the decision to cut 16 hours per day from my care staff roster,” she wrote. “The only option I had was to resign as I could not stay and work under those conditions,knowing that the care I would be responsible for delivering would not be of a high standard. “I am now working as a registered nurse, seven shifts per fortnight in an aged care facility for another not-for-profit organisation, and they

COVER STORY

Ratios in aged care is now on the political agenda thanks to years of campaigning by aged care nurses.

‘So many aged care workers across the country describe their workloads now as unsafe; they’re untenable.’ — Annie Butler have just reviewed their staffing hours, and are going to cut nine hours per day from the care staff roster. “I a m saddened a nd disillusioned with aged care and fear for our vulnerable residents and the standard of care they are going to receive.” Annie said the nurse’s concerns were a “consistent t heme” in repor t s from members. “This is someone who, after all these years, is having to leave the sector she loves because ... she can’t give the care she knows these people need to receive,” she said. Mr Bolster read from a statement by a former AiN who said she was only allowed 15 minutes to shower, dress and attend to the needs of each

high-care dementia patient in the morning. She said she asked for more time a nd, “I was just told to work on my time management”. “It is sad that such love and compassion goes into a career in aged care but so many are chased away by lack of support, worse wages, but such high expectations,” she said. ■

Have your say Participate in our national survey: http:/bit.ly/ANMFNational AgedCareSurvey

Aged care workers ‘underpaid by 15 per cent’ Aged care workers are underpaid by at least 15 per cent, the chief executive officer of the Council on the Ageing (COTA), Ian Yates, said. Mr Yates told the royal commission the 15 per cent figure was put forward by the Aged Care Workforce Taskforce based on comparisons with wages in different sectors and countries. The taskforce suggested “the aged care sector overall is underpaid by a factor of at least 15 per cent; that’s a real challenge,” he said. “If it’s being underpaid then people are going to go elsewhere.” THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 9

COVER STORY

Higher acuity, fewer nurses The declining role of RNs is a critical issue for aged care, the royal commission heard.

mproving the workforce skill mix is the most important issue for the aged care sector over the next 20 years, Professor Deborah Parker of the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) told the royal commission. Professor Parker, who chairs the ACN’s Ageing Policy Chapter, said the number of registered nurses as a proportion of the whole aged care workforce has fallen from about 21 per cent in 2003 to about 14.9 per cent now – despite an increase in acuity of patients. Corresponding ly, relia nce on “unregulated” staff – assistants in nursing, or personal care workers – has increased, she said. “The enrolled nurses operate under the supervision of the registered nurse but the unregulated worker with a very short certificate training ... is not prepared and does not have the level of assessment and planning skills required to meet the needs of the current aged care clients,” she said. Professor Parker said the quality of training was “quite variable” depending on the provider, the number of hours for training and whether it was done face-toface or online.

10 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

Also, the low number of aged care RNs meant trainees might be supervised by people at the same level as them. Counsel assisting the commission, Paul Bolster, asked: “It really depends upon the quality of the people they’re placed with?” “It does, yes,” Prof Parker replied. She said the declining proportion of RNs was due to several factors, including lower pay than other health sectors, a lack of new graduate programs and the absence of legislation requiring nursing homes to always have an RN on duty. “You have to have the skill mix required to meet the needs of the residents or the clients. So individual providers will make that decision,” she said. “One of the reasons it’s hard to attract registered and enrolled nurses to the sector though is because we have a small number of people within those positions. “So, if I go to work in an acute hospital I will have a level of support that I won’t have necessarily in the aged care industry.” ■

‘You have to have the skill mix required to meet the needs of the residents or the clients.’ — Professor Deborah Parker of the Australian College of Nursing

COVER STORY

Catheter ‘tunnelled into penis’

he Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety heard an alarming account of missed care as described in a recent member survey by the ANMF. Counsel assisting the commission, Paul Bolster, read from a statement by a former agency nurse who said PCAs (personal care attendants) told her a male resident needed Panadol to sleep every night. “I asked further and was told the gent was aphasic post-CVA (a stroke victim unable to speak), that is, very vulnerable. And he had a sore penis. “He was grimacing as I approached. I asked if I might look. He nodded. “He had a urinary catheter in place. Instead of exiting from the meatus, the glans had a split down the side to the level of the shaft. “I’m still horrified to this day. The wound was not new. It took time to erode through with pressure from the IDC (indwelling catheter) tunnelling into his penis. “The GP had not been informed and obviously I faxed them a message there and then for an urgent (urology) review ... “I am blown away the staff did not report the erosion as it was happening; take steps to prevent it.” Mr Bolster asked ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler if there should have been a handover between the hospital and nursing home following the man’s stroke, and an ongoing care plan in place. She said handovers were one of the biggest concerns of aged care nurses. “It’s one of the areas that tends to get missed and sometimes is not even allowed,” she said. “We don’t know whether there’s always an RN on duty ... We don’t know what the (staffing) ratios are. “We don’t know what the facility’s practices are in allowing proper handover and detailed clinical information.” She said nursing homes ignored health care needs “way too often” and clinical documentation tended to be “very poor across too many aged care facilities”. ■

‘I’m still horrified to this day. The wound was not new.’

Nurses vital to better care – AMA The Australian Medical Association (AMA) says trained and experienced nurses are “critical” to improving medical care in nursing homes. The federal president of the AMA, Dr Anthony Bartone, told the royal commission there was an “inappropriately high” level of patient transfer from nursing homes to emergency departments for conditions that could be managed by a GP with good clinical handover to a trained nurse. He said a 2017 survey showed that AMA members in aged care believed that “having access to suitably trained and experienced nursing and other health professionals is critical to improving access and quality of medical care in residential aged care facilities”. Dr Bartone said trained nurses were “able to carry out our directions, our functions and we’ve got that communication, coordination and facilitation of that care to be then delivered”. “(Nurses) then play a very vital role in carrying that out and ensuring it is carried out.” The availability of a trained nurse allowed for “a continual process of feedback and improvement in terms of the outcome of the care that’s exerted on the patient”. He said the AMA survey and other “continual and consistent” feedback from GPs suggested a lack of nurses was compromising the handover process. This not only subjected residents to a lesser standard of care, it also discouraged doctors from visiting facilities “because of that concern, that worry, that issue potentially around being involved in a lesser standard of care”. ■

— aged care nurse THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 11

COVER STORY

No time to wait for aged care ratios The aged care sector can’t afford to wait for the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to finish before understaffing and substandard care are addressed, two aged care nurses tell The Lamp.

N Maree Wiseman works in a 96-bed facility that has one registered nurse rostered overnight, and she is worried about the impossible workloads staff in the sector face. “In the evening we usually have two enrolled nurses, but on night duty we would have one EN and five AINs. You have residents who need three nurses to move them. People who have got dementia need more staff – they don’t want to be rushed.”

‘ When you’ve got five people who need to go to the toilet and you’ve only got two staff who do you prioritise? Do you take a number?’

Maree talks about nurses constantly running from one resident to another in her facility. “We have sensor mats for when residents get out of bed, and they are usually high falls risk people. Some of the staff are doing a lot of overtime because there is just not enough staff.” When Maree heard one witness in the Commission say “that they didn’t think ratios were needed, I was just so annoyed,” she says. “I’ve heard that it is quite common for some places to have no nurses on in a dementia wing at night.” “We need better ratios – it is just so obvious to all of us that more staff equates to better care. The staff are totally overworked and are at each 12 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

— Christine Spangler other’s throats, and it is all because of workloads. The more shifts they do the worse it is. The majority of nurses really do care, but the staff are so exhausted they ring in sick and there is no one to replace them. It is a catch 22.” In some ways the Roya l Commission has been making things

harder for staff, as management put more pressure on staff to comply with inspectors, says Maree. “Since the Royal Commission the government inspectors have been making it harder to pass accreditation. Management then gets tougher on staff.”

COVER STORY

‘ The Royal Commission has given us hope that now is the time for us to be more proactive. We don’t want to sit back. We want things to improve for residents.’ — Maree Wiseman

EVIDENCE GIVEN TO ROYAL COMMISSION IS “DISTRESSING” Aged care AIN Christine Spangler works in a 121-bed facility with two floors and one RN per floor. “That is one RN per 60 people with complex needs,” she says. Christine ha s seen some improvements in her workplace recently thanks to a new CEO. “Before that staff were walking out. They can’t handle the exhaustion and the abuse, even from resident families. They are being pushed to the limit. “When you’ve got five people who need to go to the toilet and you’ve only got two staff who do you prioritise? Do you take a number?” Christine was distressed when the Royal Commission was told about an aged care resident whose head wound was left so long maggots were found to have infested it. “It is pretty horrendous that they could let things get that far … that something could be left that long and not even looked at is proof that there are not enough stringent staff levels and people checking up on things.” What would Maree and Christine like to see the Commission achieve?

“I hope that they recommend minimum nurse-to-resident ratios,” Maree says.

Maree is also worried about unskilled staff increasingly doing nursing work.

“The Association has a formula – four hours and twenty minutes of hands on direct care per resident in a 24-hour period.”

Last December, “the NSW government snuck in an amendment to the Therapeutic Goods Act, so homes don’t need to have a registered nurse to keep supplies of Schedule 8 drugs”.

Christine adds: “Ruby at four in childcare has ratios, but when Ruby enters a nursing home at 80 there are no ratios.”

BETTER TRAINING FOR AGED CARE WORKERS NEEDED Christine says the understaffing and a lack of trained staff in homes means that emergency departments and ambulance services are being “blocked up”. “RNs have skills that mean you’re not going to have that unnecessary trip to the hospital.” Christine adds that AINs and CSEs should undertake training before they start working in a home. “I think every aged care worker should do a course in aged care before they go to work in a home. AINs are taught how to take blood pressure and do a urinary analysis on the job. And a CSE can walk in off the street and start work without any skills or training.”

Since the Commission began “more staff members are joining the Association, so that is a good thing,” Maree says. “The Royal Commission has given us hope that now is the time for us to be more proactive. We don’t want to sit back. We want things to improve for residents and staff before the end of the Royal Commission.” “We are hoping the Association is going to ramp up the aged care campaign before the federal election. Now that the NSW election is over we would like more emphasis on ratios in aged care. “I do feel hopeful. Because people feel so stressed, I think more staff may be prepared to speak up now.” ■

Support our campaign Please go to www. ratiosforagedcare.com.au THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 13

CHANGE THE RULES

A federal election is due in May. In this month’s The Lamp we look at some of the critical issues for nurses, midwives and other working people.

Inequality is a drag on our economy International economic institutions and Australian experts say reducing inequality is essential to a stronger economy, yet Australian politics is hooked on the discredited philosophy of trickle-down economics. Low pay won’t fix itself.” That was the message from 124 of Australia’s leading economic, legal and policy experts who have called for “proactive measures” to accelerate wage growth, raise minimum wages, strengthen collective bargaining, remove wage caps on public sector workers and improve Newstart. In an open letter published in the Australian Financial Review, the experts say: “In our judgement, the deceleration of wage growth is due in significant part to the impact of deep structural and institutional change, and cannot be explained as a normal outcome of market forces.” The signatories to the letter point out their views are shared by Australia’s economic guardians: “Policy statements from bodies such as the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Treasury and others also indicate the positive value of faster wage growth.

“We need to see a policy response from governments at all levels – and an acceptance that lifting wages can help the economy, not harm it,” said Professor Andrew Stewart from Adelaide Law School, one of the signatories. The intervention by Australian experts advocating for improved wages is consistent with analyses by internationa l economic organisations who have recognised how stagnant wages and growing inequality have become a brake on economic performance. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have all produced hard evidence demonstrating that high inequality depresses economic growth. “Reducing excessive inequality is not just morally and politically correct, but it is good economics,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said.

‘ We need to see a policy response from governments at all levels – and an acceptance that lifting wages can help the economy, not harm it.’ — Professor Andrew Stewart, Adelaide Law School

14 | THE LAMP FEDERAL ELECTION 2019

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

Inequality of wealth in Australia

52%

of all wealth is controlled by the richest 10 per cent of Australians

23%

of all wealth is controlled by the richest one per cent of Australians

And OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria added: “Inequality can no longer be treated as an afterthought. We need to focus the debate on how the benefits of growth are distributed.” Even some of the world’s most prominent and wealthiest business leaders concur. “People are disconnected and not benefiting enough from economic growth. Inequality has grown. Wages are not rising enough. Business, government and community leaders have a responsibility to help those left behind,” wrote Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, in the Financial Times. These contemporar y economic analyses have failed to trickle down to the key economic players in the current Liberal–National Coalition government who remain wedded to an outdated neoliberal model. Mathias Cormann, the federal government’s finance minister, recently conceded that low wage growth was “a deliberate design feature of our economic architecture”. Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has argued we should ignore the issue of distribution of wealth and concentrate on “growing the economic pie”. And Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s claim that “if you have a go, you’ll get a go” flies in the face of the growing body of evidence. ■

Inequality of income in Australia

80%

of all shares and other equities held by Australian households are in the hands of the richest 20 per cent

46%

of the wages, salaries and employer contributions to superannuation went to the top 20 per cent of households who enjoy the highest incomes in Australia

went to the poorest 20 per cent of households

‘ Reducing excessive inequality is not just morally and politically correct, but it is good economics.’ — IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde

Union plan to reduce inequality and strengthen the economy The ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign aims to: • Ensure real wages rise through the introduction of a new Living Wage, tackling insecure work, restoring penalty rates for low paid workers, raising public sector wages and reforming the collective bargaining system • Make sure everyone pays their fair share of tax, including corporations and the wealthy • Lift the poorest Australians out of poverty through an increase in Newstart and the aged pension • Increase expenditure on health and education • Establish a comprehensive jobs plan to reduce underemployment and unemployment • See measures introduced to tackle excessive corporate power.

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CHANGE THE RULES

Stagnant wages a vital election issue With wage growth stuck at around two per cent a year, Labor has promised to deliver a fairer wages system.

ompanies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange recorded their best profit results in a decade last financial year. Three-quarters (77 per cent) of listed companies posted higher profits and 86 per cent of them increased dividends to shareholders or held them constant. Since the middle of 2016, company profits have risen 43 per cent while wages have risen just 8 per cent, The Guardian reported (Ma rch 2 019), citing Austra lia n Bureau of Statistics figures. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) says most workers have not received the benefits they should have got from higher productivity and company profits. Labor leader Bill Shorten says the next election will be “a referendum on wages.” “It will be a contest about who the economy should work for, whose interests the system should serve,” he said. “Everything in Australia has gone up except for people’s wages.” He said flat wages growth had forced people to “mine their savings” to pay for the basics. Shorten says Labor will change the rules used by the Fair Work Commission to set the minimum

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‘ Everything in Australia has gone up except for people’s wages. The next election will be a referendum on wages.’ — Labor leader Bill Shorten

Company profits are growing more than five times faster than wages.

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON WAGES

wage to lift it above the “unfair” rate of $18.93 an hour. “It simply isn’t fair, nor sustainable for economic confidence in this country, that an adult could work full time and be earning $18.93 an hour at the minimum wage before tax,” he said. “The minimum wage in Australia should be a living wage.” Wage stagnation is mainly due to barriers imposed on workers when they bargain for higher wages and the increased power of corporations in relation to employees, the ACTU says. The Labor Party has promised to reintroduce pattern bargaining in low-paid sectors such as cleaning and childcare. Pattern bargaining, which is now outlawed, would allow unions to negotiate wage increases across a whole industry rather than having to fight for them workplace by workplace. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said pattern bargaining would “take us back to the dark ages of workplace relations in this country” with a return to the strikes and stoppages of the 1970s. Labor has also promised to restore weekend penalty rates, crack down on sham contracting and the rorting of skills visas, stop the use of labour hire to drive down wages and make equality for working women a priority in pay and in superannuation. ■

LABOR Labor will ‘repair’ awards • Change awards to make it easier to negotiate pay increases and ensure awards keep up with going industry conditions and rates. • Give unions the right to bargain with multiple employers across an industry in order to achieve industry-wide pay rates and conditions. • Restore penalty rates for the 700,000 workers who had them cut under the federal Coalition government – and change the rules so they cannot be cut for any other worker. • Change the law to require the Fair Work Commission to raise the minimum wage. • Support a living wage GREENS Greens want higher minimum wages The Greens have introduced legislation that would: • raise the national minimum wage to 60 per cent of the median full-time wage (it’s now around 55 per cent) with the Fair Work Commission to set a phase-in period. • The Greens say the main job of the industrial relations system must be to “protect the interests of working people from the disproportionate power of employers, chief contractors and monopolies”. LIBERAL–NATIONAL COALITION ‘Leave it up to business’ The Coalition says wage increases should depend on the prosperity of business. “My view is we need the best environment for businesses to grow. That is the best opportunity to ensure wages can lift, not artificially, but sustainably,” said then treasurer (now prime minister) Scott Morrison in 2018. The Coalition has ruled out any action to restore penalty rates or advocate for a higher minimum wage.

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CHANGE THE RULES

Labor backs our push to Change the Rules The coming federal election is an opportunity to win fairer work arrangements and more secure jobs.

he rules that control our workplaces and job conditions operate well for big business. Profits are booming and executive bonuses are at alltime highs. But for working people, the rules are broken. Company profits have grown more than five times faster than wages since the middle of 2016, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show. While wages struggle to keep pace with inflation, too many people are forced to depend on casual and insecure jobs. Years of legislative changes have stripped the union movement of the ability to effectively represent members and win bigger pay rises. The union movement’s Change the Rules campaign aims to give workers more rights to obtain secure jobs and fair pay rises. The Labor Party has backed important parts of the Change the Rules agenda. Labor says if it wins government at the next election it will stop employees being forced into casual work if the job is not genuinely casual.

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‘ Part-time and casual jobs have increased as a proportion of the economy, along with the number of people who say they want to work more hours. Household income is lower in real terms than it was in 2011.’ — The Guardian Under a Labor government, if someone has worked regularly as a casual for over 12 months, they will get the right to convert to permanent work if they wish to do so. Opposition leader Bill Shorten says Labor will change the Fair Work Act so that employers must pay labour hire workers the same as direct employees. He says employers often use labour hire firms purely as a means to pay workers less, or to deprive them of conditions and security. “Our policy is based on a simple principle: if you are doing the same job, you should get the same pay,” he says. Many employers have been telling workers they must get an ABN and set up their own business to do what was once a permanent job.

Labor has committed to stop employers forcing people to get ABNs so they can be paid less than the legal minimum. It has also promised tougher action against employers who engage in “wage theft” – deliberately underpaying workers and refusing to pay mandatory superannuation. Bill Shorten says a Labor government will legislate to fine employers three times the amount they steal from their workers. The ACTU has welcomed the promise, saying wage theft is now so common that in some places it’s the business model. “There are business owners all over Australia getting rich by stealing from their staff and the current industrial laws make it far too easy,” says ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. ■

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON

CHANGING THE RULES LABOR

• Will stop employees being forced into casual work. Employers will no longer be able to call someone a casual if the job is not genuinely casual. • Will give people the right to convert to permanent work – with the rights that go along with it – if they have worked regularly for over 12 months.

How the gig economy impacts on wages

$14.62 What an Australian UberX driver earns on average per hour

$18.29 The statutory minimum wage per hour

$30.00 The award pay for workers in the sector when weighted for penalties. In addition, drivers miss out on other protections and entitlements such as superannuation, workers compensation and leave entitlements. Source: Centre for Future Work, Australia Institute

‘ If you are doing the same job, you should get the same pay.’ — Labor leader Bill Shorten

• Employers will have to pay labour hire workers no less than permanent workers. • Labor will require employers to prove they cannot hire local workers before the government issues temporary work visas. Temporary migrant workers will get Australian market wages and employment rights. GREENS • Support the ACTU’s Change the Rules campaign. • Introduced legislation into parliament to give casual and rolling contract workers the power to convert to secure employment. • Introduced legislation into parliament to give people the right to work fewer hours if they want. • Support the restoration of the right to take industrial action, consistent with international law. LIBERAL–NATIONAL GOVERNMENT • Defends the reduction of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates. • Prime Minister Scott Morrison describes Labor’s plans to raise wages as “economic vandalism” that would cost jobs. • Jobs Minister Kelly O’Dwyer says wage growth must be sustainable and the path to prosperity is lower taxes. “This is why we pursue lower taxation, more investment in infrastructure and more free-trade agreements,” she said.

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CHANGE THE RULES

Coalition fails to damage industry super The Liberal–National Coalition government and big banks have waged a long campaign to weaken industry superannuation, the system which most nurses rely on to accumulate retirement income.

arge numbers of members of retail funds have switched to industry funds following findings by the Productivity Commission and Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry that industry funds have consistently outperformed retail funds. Industry super funds receive employers’ compulsory super payments on behalf of employees and are jointly managed by equal numbers of employer and union representatives. The Coalition government is ideologically opposed to union involvement in superannuation. The Coalition has strongly supported so-called retail funds owned by banks and financial services companies like AMP. Despite that support, retail funds have been losing account holders in droves. “Almost $11 billion f lowed out of scandal-plagued retail superannuation funds into industry funds in 2018,” the Australian Financial Review reported. “(Royal) Commissioner Kenneth

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‘ Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne found retail funds to be riddled with problems but identified few failings by industry funds.’ — Australian Financial Review Hayne found retail funds to be riddled with problems but identified few failings by industry funds,” the paper said.

by nearly two percentage points.

The findings of the Productivity Commission and royal commission represent a spectacular own-goal by the Coalition government.

The Coa lition government repeatedly refused to order a banking royal commission on the grounds it wasn't necessary. It finally did so after some Nationals MPs threatened to break ranks and vote with Labor to establish a royal commission.

The government tried to legislate to make it easier for employers to switch their employees from industry funds to for-profit retail funds. The move failed when independent senators voted with the ALP and Greens to defeat the legislation.

F u r ious at being forced into a royal commission, the government expanded it to include superannuation f unds as “a direct smack at Labor” as one Coalition source told the Australian Financial Review.

The government then ordered the Productivity Commission to examine the superannuation industr y, thinking the findings would favour retail funds.

That move backfired by delivering an even bigger blow to retail funds. The royal commission found they were managed in the interests of shareholders rather than members and riddled with conflicts of interest and corruption. ■

Instead, t he P roduct iv it y Commission reported that industry funds outperformed for-profit funds

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON

Why we support industry super

SUPERANNUATION

More than five million workers belong to industry super funds such as HESTA, the health care employees’ fund. Industry super was set up in the 1980s by agreement between the union movement and Labor government. The aim was to give working people an income stream to supplement the old age pension. Industry super funds do not pay dividends to shareholders, they charge low fees and deliver better returns to members than corporateowned retail funds, which are backed by the Coalition government. As the Australian Financial Review noted: “It is a combination of member switching and excellent investment returns that has ratcheted up the growth of industry funds to the extent that they will soon overtake self-managed super as the biggest segment of the market.”

Industry super vs. retail super

$996,000*

A retail super fund member will retire with $996,000.

$1,662,000** * Based on super savings of 9.5 per cent of current average weekly earnings for 40 years at an average annual return of 4.9 per cent. ** Based on super savings of 9.5 per cent of current average weekly earnings for 40 years at an average return of 6.8 per cent. Source: Alan Kohler, The Australian.

An industry super fund member will retire with $1,662,000.

LIBERAL–NATIONAL COALITION • Tried to legislate to make it easier for employers to move their employees from industry funds to inferior retail funds. • Opposed Labor’s Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) laws, designed to clean up the conflicted and corrupted financial advice industry. • Tried to protect big banks by blocking the royal commission for two years. • Passed laws to stall the increase of employer contributions from 9 to 12 per cent. LABOR • Increased the Superannuation Guarantee from 9 to 12 per cent, introduced low-cost MySuper accounts and superannuation tax concessions for low income earners. • Promise to make it easier for workers to recover their unpaid superannuation as an industrial right. • Promise to implement “policies that work towards closing the significant gender gap in superannuation savings”. GREENS Want to promote greater competition with legislation that forces big banks and financial institutions to break up their businesses and operate in just one of four areas: • Retail banks, that take deposits and give loans including credit cards, mortgages and business lending • Superannuation funds • Insurance, including life insurance • Complex wealth management products.

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CHANGE THE RULES

Health care needs a fairer tax system Wealthy Australians to get tax cuts as hospitals beg for funds.

The Australian Medical Association has warned that public hospitals continue to face a “funding crisis” – one that is rapidly eroding their capacity to provide essential health services. The warning is contained in the AMA’s 2018 Public Hospital Report Card. The AMA report card paints a bleak picture of hospital funding and performance. It notes that federal government health expenditure fell to 16.12 per cent of total expenditure in the 2017–18 Federal Budget – down from 18.09 per cent in 2006-07. The AMA and NSWNMA have repeatedly warned that without sufficient funding, public hospitals will never meet the targets set by governments, and patients will wait longer for treatment. The public understand that our hospitals need adequate funding. In a Guardian Essential Poll (May 2018), most voters chose increased spending for healthcare (67 per cent) as their top priority for the 2018 federal budget. Only 17 per cent nominated personal income tax cuts as the most important issue for the budget to address. Yet while hospitals go begging, personal tax cuts that favour the rich were the centrepiece of the Coalition government’s 2018 budget. According to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) the biggest winners from the tax package when it is fully implemented will be high-income earners: • A worker on $200,000 will get an annual tax cut of $7225 • A worker on $130,000 will get a cut of $450 • A worker on $60,000 will get an annual tax cut of $540. Meanwhile, the government continues to allow major corporations to avoid paying billions of dollars in tax every year.

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‘ Australians don't want the world's biggest tax loopholes, they want the best schools and hospitals.’ — Labor tax spokesperson and economist Andrew Leigh

About one-third of large companies failed to pay tax in 2016–17, even though they made a gross profit, ABC News reported in December. The Tax Office told the ABC most of the 722 (out of 2109) companies that escaped paying tax were able to claim tax losses and concessions that can go back several years. GetUp campaigns director Ruby-Rose O’Halloran said the ATO data showed successive governments had failed to deal with corporate tax cheats. “Politicians are surely failing us when nurses, teachers, retail and hospitality workers are all contributing more to society than some of the world's largest corporations,” she said. “It’s simply not fair.” Oxfam Australia chief executive Dr Helen Szoke called on the government to “take necessary, tougher measures on tax transparency and the hidden owners of companies and trusts to further crack down on tax avoidance”. Labor’s Assistant Shadow Treasurer, economist Andrew Leigh said: “Australians don’t want the world’s biggest tax loopholes, they want the best schools and hospitals.” The Australian entrepreneur and media commentator Harold Mitchell was among many who called for greater efforts to make global companies pay tax in Australia. “We have just got to get smarter and be able to collect a fair share from the likes of Google, which pays almost nothing on a turnover of $2.5 billion,” Mitchell said. ■

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON

TAX

LIBERAL–NATIONAL COALITION Implementing income tax cuts in three stages to 2027–28. They will cost the Budget $25 billion per year when completed. According to the Grattan Institute, $15 billion of the annual $25 billion cost will result from collecting less tax from the top 20 per cent of income earners. In 2018 the Senate rejected another Coalition plan to give tax cuts to big business.

Federal government health expenditure

LABOR Labor will implement reforms to “make Australia’s tax system fairer” and save the Budget billions of dollars each year.

18.09% 16.21%

Labor will close tax loopholes and reduce tax concessions for negative gearing, capital gains tax and discretionary trusts. “Our fairer tax system means we can afford to fund better local schools, better local hospitals and better infrastructure for all Australians,” Labor policy says.

2006–07 Federal government health expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure in the 2006–07 Federal Budget.

67%

2017–18 Federal government health expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure in the 2017–18 Federal Budget.

of voters chose increased spending for healthcare as their top priority for the 2018 federal budget (Guardian Essential Poll).

GREENS The Greens would ensure people earning more than $300,000 pay a minimum rate of tax and are unable to reduce their taxable income to zero. The Greens have put forward measures to target corporate tax avoidance. They estimate corporations avoid about $8 billion of tax a year.

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CHANGE THE RULES

Time’s up on climate stalling Health experts, scientists and economists have rung the alarm bells on climate change for years but powerful interests in parliament, the media and business have paralysed climate change policy.

limate change is undeniably a critical health issue, even more so for an ecologically fragile continent like Australia. The science on climate change is clear. Report after report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that global warming is “unequivocal” and there is overwhelming evidence for human-made global warming. The IPCC reports are based on a rigorous assessment of the published and peer-reviewed research of more than 1250 expert authors from 30 countries.

‘ We can not delay action on climate change. We cannot sleepwalk through this health emergency any longer.’ — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general

Climate change is already a health emergency. A report by 150 experts from 27 universities and institutions including the World Health Organization and the World Bank set out the impacts of global warming on health in stark terms late last year. “A rapidly changing climate has dire implications for every aspect of human life, exposing vulnerable populations to extremes of weather, altering patterns of infectious disease, and compromising food security, safe drinking water and clean air,” it said. “We cannot delay action on climate change. We cannot sleepwalk through this health emergency any longer,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general. The last four years have seen the highest average temperatures globally since records began in the 19th century. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record in Australia have occurred since 2005. The economic consequences of climate change are also well documented.

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In 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank and British Treasury warned that unless we invest one per cent of global GDP per annum – he later upped it to two per cent – in measures to prevent climate change, it would cost us 20 per cent of global GDP. The 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review warned that climate change would be an economic disaster for Australian agriculture. By 2100, irrigated agriculture in the Murray–Darling basin would decline by 92 per cent, it found. In March this year, Guy Debelle, the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, warned of the growing risk of climate change to the Australian economy (see page 27). Despite all these warnings, the scientific evidence and the annual manifestation of global warming in record temperatures, worsening droughts, wildfires and rising sea levels, Australia has failed to conceive and implement a coherent climate change policy. ■

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

IMAGE: AAP

Liberal Party climate change policy has been in the hands of one Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who famously said “climate change is crap”; another, Malcolm Turnbull, who lost his job after he failed to gain the support of his own party for the modest emissions targets of his National Energy Guarantee, and now Scott Morrison, who scrapped the NEG and replaced it with … a lump of coal.

Australian students use the time-honoured union tactic of the strike to press for meaningful climate change action. Global student strikes have been inspired by the 16-yearold Swedish student Greta Thunberg. At a UN climate change conference in December, she told world leaders: “You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children.”

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PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

2019

Aged Care Seminar Thursday 23 May Ballina RSL 1 Grant Street Ballina 9am to 4pm

CPD

BALLINA

All Members $60 Non-members $120 Lunch and refreshments provided

For RNs, ENs and AINs in residential, community and hospital aged care settings, across private and public sectors, or anyone with an interest, professional or personal, in the aged care sector in NSW. Hear from a range of speakers, network with colleagues and earn some valuable CPD hours.

PROGRAM: • • • • •

Work Health and Safety in Aged Care; Dementia Management; Nutrition in the Elderly; Elder Abuse; The NMBA Decision Making Framework.

Self-Care Seminar WATERLOO CPD

5½

Friday 17 May NSWNMA 50 O’Dea Ave. Waterloo 9.15am to 3.45pm

All Members $60 Non-members $120 Lunch and refreshments provided

Self-care is imperative to personal health, professional growth and sustenance in order to continue to care for others. This 1-day seminar focuses on reflection, relaxation and continued rejuvenation as well as the principles and importance of practicing selfcare to combat stress and promote healthy practices.

PROGRAM: • Managing Acute Back Pain, Pippa Osbourn, CNS Acute Pain Service, Calvary Mater Newcastle • 5 Keys to Achieving Optimal Nutrition and Healthy Eating Patterns for Nurse, Hayley Stathis, Naturopath, Nutritionist and Health Coach • Discovery of Self for the Practising Nurse/Midwife – Visioning Workshop, Andrea Brockbank, Life Mastery Coach/Consultant • Relax – Breath – Let go! Mindfulness in Practice, Helen Macukewicz, Professional Officer, NSWNMA

For full details of courses including course content, venue & times, please go to www.nswnma.asn.au CPD

Attendance at NSWNMA education sessions may count towards your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours. The number of hours noted beside each course is the maximum amount of claimable CPD hours. Unless otherwise noted, our courses are suitable for all Nurses, Midwives and Assistants in Nursing/Midwifery.

26 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

Climate change a risk to Australia’s financial stability The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia warns of the growing risk of climate change to the Australian economy. In a speech to the Centre for Policy Development, Guy Debelle outlined how climate change poses risks for the Australia’s financial stability in several ways. “Insurers may face large, unanticipated payouts because of climate change-related property damage and business losses. In some cases businesses and households could lose access to insurance,” he said. “Companies that generate significant pollution might face reputational damage or legal liability from their activities, and changes to regulation could cause previously valuable assets to become uneconomic. “All of these consequences could precipitate sharp adjustments in asset prices, which would have consequences for financial stability.” Debelle emphasised that climate events are increasingly a trend within the economy, not a cycle. “Droughts have generally been regarded, at least economically, as cyclical events that recur every so often. In contrast, climate change is a trend change. The impact of a trend is ongoing, whereas a cycle is temporary. “That situation is more challenging to assess and respond to,” he said. The RBA’s warning is the third by a major financial regulator – following similar interventions by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and Australian Securities and Investments Commission – that climate change is an issue that must be embedded in disclosure, risk management and assessments of monetary policy and financial stability. “All while a climate denialist government has been in power in Canberra, refusing to have any coherent policy on either energy or emissions abatement,” commented the online journal Crikey.

‘ Droughts have generally been regarded, at least economically, as cyclical events that recur every so often. In contrast, climate change is a trend change. The impact of a trend is ongoing, whereas a cycle is temporary.’

WHERE THE PARTIES STAND ON

CLIMATE CHANGE GREENS

The Greens aim for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by “no later than” 2040, the banning of fossil fuel mining and for 100 per cent of electricity to be generated by renewable energy. They also promise binding national emission limits for each year through to 2050 and the pricing of electricity and fossil fuels to reflect their true cost. LABOR Labor has a target of a 45 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels. By 2050 it aims for net zero greenhouse gas emissions. It says it will achieve this chiefly through a massive investment in renewable energy. By 2030 Labor aims to generate 50 per cent of the country’s electricity by renewable resources. LIBERAL–NATIONAL COALITION Its official target is to reduce Australia’s greenhouse emissions by between 26 and 28 per cent from 2005 levels which would see it meet its commitments under the Paris agreement. The main vehicle to achieve this is the Emissions Reduction Fund – a $2.5 billion fund to pay for carbon mitigation projects like tree planting. Ninety per cent of the fund has already been spent and experts say the outcomes are a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed to meet the government’s own targets. Malcolm Turnbull’s National Energy Guarantee was supposed to reduce emissions from the electricity sector below the 26 per cent target. That policy was scrapped by new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and replaced with – nothing.

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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Breathing the black stuff In a new report on the health effects of the coal industry in the Hunter Valley, the NSWNMA has recommended a widespread community education campaign as well as a plan to transition the Hunter economy fairly and sustainably to renewable energy.

“

Look out the back here and you can see the orange glow of diesel fumes,” says NSWNMA Muswellbrook branch president Adrian King when The Lamp calls him at home. “Then you add to that the dust … it doesn’t rain anywhere enough. On top of that you’ve got these silent power stations churning through the coal.” Adrian is describing the mining and power station pollution that plagues the Hunter Valley. Adrian helped distribute surveys to Hunter residents as part of the research for the NSWNMA report. As he did so, he began educating himself more about the industry. “I think everyone knows that the emissions from burning coal to produce energy create sulphur dioxide and particle pollutants you don’t want to breathe. What I didn’t realise until very recently is it is also radioactive.” While he says it is “always very difficult to nail down causes”, working in the Hunter he sees an alarmingly high number of heartand lung-related diseases. “I see a lot of cardiac issues, a lot of chest pain and a lot of respiratory issues such

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‘ I see a lot of cardiac issues, a lot of chest pain and a lot of respiratory issues such as asthma and hay fevers.’ — Adrian King, NSWNMA Muswellbrook president as asthma and hayfevers.” On top of the industr y’s health effects, the report highlights the industry’s environmental consequences. “Coal from the Hunter Valley is Australia’s largest single source of carbon dioxide,” says Dr Janet Roden, the report’s author and NSWNMA Professional Officer. From her community meetings, focus groups, interviews and surveys, she found that people in the Muswellbrook region “were confused and divided about the effects of local power stations on theirs and their family’s health”. People were also confused about what impact the slated 2022 closure of the Liddell Power Station would have on them, but a clear majority were worried about local jobs. Sevent y- one

per

cent

respondents to the NSWNMA survey clearly agreed that the transition away from coal would have a significant negative impact on the economic and social life of the upper Hunter Valley communities. “Only a small group (12 per cent) of respondents could see the benefits and the positive outcomes of the transition,” Janet Roden says. “There is a real absence of awareness and understanding of the deleterious health effects of the emissions from the power stations and the mines: nearly 75 per cent said their health and their family’s health would not improve or were undecided about the health effects of the Liddell closure.”

THE HUNTER’S DEPENDENCE ON COAL Not long after the NSWNMA report was completed, the NSW Environment Protection Authority

FEDERAL ELECTION 2019 / THE ISSUES

Read the report (EPA) reviewed three coal-fired power stations – Eraring, Vales Point and Mt Piper over Christmas and January 2019. “The EPA could see no reason why there should be changes like putting pollution devices on [these] power stations. This was very concerning. These power stations pollute at three times the concentrations [allowed] in the USA,” says Dr Roden. One of the problems with any plan to move away from coal is the community’s economic dependence on the industry. Adrian says he is acutely aware of the impact of closing coal-fired power stations without planning to transition to other sources of energy and employment. “We have to figure out a better way of doing things. How do we transition away from coal so people aren’t running scared because they are worried about employment?” The N S W N M A’s repor t recommends a twofold approach for transition in the region; one that addresses the knowledge gap about the health impacts of mining and power station emissions, along with a comprehensive plan to move to sustainable energy.

It says “a lack of knowledge about renewable energy needs to be addressed through … community education and support for new renewable training opportunities for power workers”. “The Muswellbrook Shire Council needs to work with the Department of Education and the Ministry of Health about community education promotion programs on topics like the health impacts of mine and power station emissions, what can be done to minimise their negative impacts and coping with change and resilience,” says Dr Roden. “There is also a great need to educate students from kindergarten through to high school about renewables and to ensure local TAFEs can be established in Singleton, Muswellbrook and Scone, not just Newcastle, for the purpose of running courses on renewables, and retraining power workers and others in the renewable technology.” The NSWNM A report also recommends establishing a n independent statutory authority to plan and manage the transition away from coal, and the development of a Renewable Energy Hub. ■

The report, Muswellbrook: Between Eight Coal Mines and Two Power Stations: Preparing for the Closure of the Liddell Power Station and the Transition Beyond, was released in 2018. http://www.nswnma. asn.au/wp-content/ uploads/2018/07/ Muswellbrook-between-8coal-mines-and-2-powerstations.pdf NEW SOUTH WALES NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION

AUSTRALIAN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY FEDERATION NSW BRANCH

Muswellbrook: between eight coal mines and two power stations PREPARING FOR THE CLOSURE OF THE LIDDELL POWER STATION AND THE TRANSITION BEYOND

RESEARCH REPORT | JULY 2018 Dr Janet Roden Professional Officer NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association

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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Unionists asked to support Indigenous recognition in the constitution Giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a legitimate voice is “how we start to close the gap in health and education” says MUA leader Thomas Mayor.

homas Mayor, a Torres Straits Islander man and the Northern Territory branch secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, received a standing ovation from NSWNMA delegates when he spoke at a Committee of Delegates meeting last year about his work campaigning for constitutional recognition of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. In 2017, Mayor was one of approximately 300 Indigenous representatives elected to go to Uluru for a three-day Referendum Convention. “We all had different perspectives,” Mayor said. “We don’t always agree, but on the last day, when Professor Megan Davis read the Uluru Statement from the Heart for the first time, the entire room stood as one and endorsed it with acclamation.” “In that moment I saw people who had been in passionate debate with one another, embracing each other.” The statement proposes constitutional reform to create a First Nations representative body to advise parliament on policy affecting Indigenous peoples and commit Australia to a “Makarrata Commission”. Makarrata is the Yolgnu word for truth telling. The then Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, reje c te d t he st atement , say i ng it wa sn’t “desirable or capable of winning acceptance at referendum”. When Mayor heard Turnbull speak at the Indigenous 30 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

If we don’t constitutionally enshrine our voice it will be exposed to the political ideology of the day. — Thomas Mayor Gamma festival he saw “his heart was empty; he was not going to do this. But I didn’t take no for an answer”. Mayor has since been seconded by the MUA to travel the country building support for the statement and a referendum. He says supporters of the statement have “a big job ahead of us. Scott Morrison is repeating the rhetoric that this is a third chamber of parliament.” Mayor started working on the wharf when he was 17 years old. He joined the MUA, where he met Brian Manning, a long-time unionist and activist for Indigenous rights. During the nine-year Wave Hill Station struggle led by Vincent Lingiari, Manning would drive a Bedford truck 600km south from Darwin with food supplies for the strikers. “It was the longest strike in Australian history. They were only being paid rations, so it was about equal wages and conditions at work, and it became a very important part of the land rights struggle,” says Mayor.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Unions have a strong track record on social justice issues -the MUA's Brian Manning delivers food supplies to striking Aboriginal workers at Wave Hill Station.

“That history that we have makes me extremely proud to be a unionist.” When Mayor became an MUA official in 2010 he continued the MUA’s tradition “to do more than just fight for our own wages and conditions, but also stand up for social justice”. Mayor has led actions around the WA Communit y Closures a nd t he “disgraceful treatment of our youth” at Don Dale detention centre. He is now asking unionists to support a referendum that will enshrine a First Nations voice in the constitution. “We don’t have a First Nations authorised legitimate representative structure that is accountable to their communities.” Having a legitimate voice is “how we start to close the gap in health and education, because we will be able to reflect on decisions before they are made.” “Referendums are difficult to achieve in this country, but if we don’t constitutionally enshrine it [our voice], it will be exposed to the whims of the political ideology of the day,” Mayor said.

ULURU

Statement from the Heart

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood. Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness. We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and selfdetermination. We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history. In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

“In 1967 we were counted. In 2017 we sought to be heard.” ■

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 31

NEWS IN BRIEF

AUSTRALIA

The minimum wage should be a living wage The ALP is supporting the union movement, while the Liberal Party throws its weight behind employers in the battle over the minimum wage. The union movement is pushing for a 6 per cent increase to the minimum wage in a two-step process to get it up to what it says is a living wage. The ACTU says no full-time worker should be living in relative poverty – which is defined by the OECD as 60 per cent of median earnings. This landmark could be reached, says the ACTU, with a further 5.5 per cent increase in 2020. As The Lamp goes to press the ALP has committed to replacing the minimum wage with a living wage. Even though corporate profits have increased by 43 per cent since 2016 compared to an 8 per cent rise in wages, employers groups are lobbying the Fair Work Commission to limit a rise in the minimum wage to between zero and two per cent. Restaurant and Catering Australia, in its submission to the Commission, advocated for no increase – effectively a real wage cut – while the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for a 1.8 per cent increase and the Australian Industry Group want the increase limited to two per cent. The federal Liberal Party leadership appears to back the employers’ position. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann described slower wages growth as a “deliberate design feature”. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Labor’s proposal to change the rules used by the Fair Work Commission

‘ (Liberal) Finance Minister Mathias Cormann described slower wages growth as a “deliberate design feature”. ’ to set the minimum wage would “force businesses to sack workers”. The Victorian Labor government, in its submission, argued for a 5.6 per cent increase – close to that of the ACTU. The federal Labor opposition argued that international evidence shows that “significant increases in the minimum wage can be sustained without costing jobs”. It also cited a Reserve Bank of Australia research paper, which found that “modest, incremental” wage increases do not harm jobs or hours.

Member Benefits 32 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

NEWS IN BRIEF

BRITAIN

Gambling with lives British campaigners are calling for gambling to be classed as a public health issue.

UNITED STATES

Number of Americans without health insurance on rise again Seven million fewer Americans have health insurance today than they did four years ago. Concerted attacks by Republicans on government-backed health schemes, including the Affordable Care Act (known as Obamacare) has led to a marked drop in the number of Americans covered by health insurance, according to a new poll by Gallup. Since 2008 Gallup has surveyed 28,000 people per quarter with the question: “Do you have health insurance?” In 2018, the pollsters found 13.7 per cent of Americans lacked health insurance, the highest levels since 2014. The change represents a net increase of seven million uninsured individuals. Gallup attributed the fall in coverage to “political forces that may have increased uncertainty surrounding the ACA marketplace”. Early in his presidency, for example, President Donald Trump announced, “I want people to know Obamacare is dead; it’s a dead healthcare plan.” Gallup found that women, those living in households with annual incomes of less than $48,000 per year, and young adults under the age of 35 reported the greatest increases in numbers of uninsured. Those younger than 35 reported an uninsured rate of over 21 per cent, a 4.8-point increase from two years earlier. And the rate among women – while still below that of men – is among the fastest rising, increasing from 8.9 per cent in late 2016 to 12.8 per cent at the end of 2018.

New research that highlights the “gamblification” of football support among young men that has led to a spate of suicides, has prompted campaigners to call for gambling to be considered a public health issue. The research conducted by the University of Bath found that serial, in-play betting on multiple online accounts had become an intrinsic part of watching football for young supporters, with some “dire consequences”. These included “deepening social and financial precarity, high-interest, pay-day loans and bank debt, mortgage defaults, family breakdown, and mental health struggles”. “The rapid development and growth of in-game betting is happening without attention being paid to how addictive and dangerous this form of gambling may be,” Charles and Liz Richie from the campaign group Gambling with Lives, told The Guardian. Over 80 per cent of Australian adults engage in gambling of some kind - the highest rate of gambling in the world. Gambling is also a significant public health issue with around 80,000 to 160,000 of Australian adults experiencing significant problems from gambling. In the financial year of 2015-2016 Australians lost approximately $24 billion to gambling – more per capita than any other nation – with pokies by far the biggest contributor to those losses. According to the World Count of Gaming Machines 2016, Australia has 197,122 electronic gaming machines (EGMs) – the sixth highest number in the world. Around 600,000 Australians (four per cent of the adult population) play on the ‘pokies’ at least weekly.

‘ Over 80 per cent of Australian adults engage in gambling of some kind – the highest rate in the world.’

‘ I want people to know Obamacare is dead; it’s a dead healthcare plan.’ — Donald Trump THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 33

NEWS IN BRIEF

BRITAIN

16 and 70: the twin peaks of happiness People are happiest at 16 and 70, with wellbeing taking a nosedive in the working years between the mid-20s and the mid-50s.

NEW ZEALAND

A four-day week lowers stress and increases productivity A study of a New Zealand financial services company which introduced a four-day week found a 20 per cent increase in productivity, increased profits and improved staff wellbeing. Perpetual Guardian switched its 240 staff from a five-day to a four-day week last November and maintained their pay reported The Guardian. Productivity increased in the four days they worked so there was no drop in the total amount of work done, a study of the trial conducted by academics at the University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology has revealed. Among the Perpetual Guardian staff they found scores given by workers about leadership, stimulation, empowerment and commitment all increased compared with a 2017 survey. Staff stress levels were down from 45 per cent to 38 per cent. Work-life balance scores increased from 54 per cent to 78 per cent. “Managers reported their teams were more creative after the trial,” said Jarrod Haar, a professor of human resource management at Auckland University of Technology. “It involved them finding solutions to doing their work in four days, so this reflected well. Importantly, they rated their teams as giving better customer service – they were more engaging and focused when clients and customers called. “Beyond wellbeing, employees reported their teams were stronger and functioned better together, more satisfied with their jobs, more engaged and they felt their work had greater meaning,” he said.

‘ Managers reported their teams were more creative after the trial.’ 34 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

A report by the Resolution Foundation analysed seven years of wellbeing surveys run by the British Office for National Statistics since 2011. Respondents of a variety of ages rated their life satisfaction, self-worth, happiness and anxiety levels on a scale from one to 10. In a U-shaped curve, it showed that being in one’s 50s is the least happy, while the ages of 16 and 70 are the twin peaks of happiness. The data suggests that anxiety levels tend to rise for people between their mid20s and their mid-50s. After a downturn in people’s late teens, the data suggested an increase in overall wellbeing in people’s early 20s. But that tends to be followed by a stark drop-off in each of the components of wellbeing from around the age of 30 until people reach their 50s. At that point, the curves shift steadily upwards until the age of about 70. According to the report, what contributes to happiness at 70 is the good fortune to have health, a degree, a job, a partner and to own your home. Another think tank, the New Economics Foundation, has proposed five ways to boost wellbeing – to take notice, be active, connect, keep learning and to give. At least two of these – connect (death of community services and public spaces) and keep learning (demise of adult education) have been undermined by spending cuts.

‘ The data suggests that anxiety levels tend to rise for people between their mid-20s and their mid-50s.’

NEWS IN BRIEF

WORLD

The three big threats to life Food systems are the drivers of obesity and under-nutrition and they also generate more than a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, says a new Lancet report. The Lancet Commission – a group of 43 world-leading experts in agriculture, economics, human rights and other fields – says the interplay of obesity, under-nutrition and climate change poses an enormous threat to humanity. Malnutrition, whether it is under nutrition or obesity, was by far the biggest cause of ill-health and premature death globally, the Lancet obesity commissioner Professor Steven Allender, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Excess body weight affects two billion people worldwide, while two billion people also suffer from micronutrient deficiency and both problems are expected to be made significantly worse by climate change,” Professor Allender said. “Food systems not only drive the obesity and under- nutrition pandemic but also generate more than a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, with cattle production accounting for more than half of these emissions. “Car-dominated transportation systems support sedentary lifestyles and generate between 14 and 25 per cent of emissions,” Professor Allender said. Climate change’s extreme weather events, droughts, and shifts in agriculture will drive up rates of under nutrition by increasingly threatening food security, according to the report. The latest report is the second by the Lancet Commission on the impact of nutrition and food systems on human and planetary health.

‘ The Lancet Commission says the interplay of obesity, under nutrition and climate change poses an enormous threat to humanity.’

THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA Associate Professor, Palliative Care Nursing The School of Nursing, Sydney is committed to developing and training excellent, caring and ethical nurses. Created in association with Sacred Heart Health Service and St Vincent’s Hospital, the School is seeking an academic leader to make significant contributions in the field of Palliative Care Nursing research and scholarship. Working in close collaboration with the Chair of Palliative Medicine Research, you will play a leading role in building research strategy and capacity. (Level D, Full-Time, Fixed-Term for Five Years) Salary Package: $164,205 – $180,367 per annum (includes 12% Super and 17.5% Leave Loading)

This is now the 12th consecutive year that Notre Dame has received 5-star ratings for the categories of Skills Development, Overall Experience, and Teaching Quality. Good Universities Guide 2019

The application pack for this position is available at: notredame.edu.au/employment The University of Notre Dame Australia is a private Catholic university with campuses in Fremantle, Broome and Sydney. The Objects of the University are the provision of university education within a context of Catholic faith and values and the provision of an excellent standard of teaching, scholarship and research, training for the professions and the pastoral care of its students.

CRICOS PROVIDER CODE: 01032F

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 35

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

SYDNEY METRO

April to June 2019 Education Waterloo

Practical, Positive Leadership Series, 4-Day Course, Mondays, 8 April, 6 May, 3 June and 8 July, $340 / $600, 24 CPD Hours

Understanding the Four Human Behavioural Styles, Thursday 23 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours Enrolled Nurses’ Seminar, Friday 24 May, $60 / $120, 6 CPD Hours, EN

Clinical Communication and Documentation, Thursday 11 April, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Emotional Intelligence Training, Thursday 13 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

How to get that dream job (Portfolio/CV, Job Application and Interview Skills), Monday 15 April, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Know where you stand with Law, Ethics and Professional Standards in nursing and midwifery, Thursday 20 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Increasing Resilience in Stressful and Changing Times, Monday 29 April, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Blacktown

Medications: How we do it better, Thursday 9 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Wound Care: Pathophysiology, Skin Tears and Pressure Injury Prevention, Wednesday 15 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

NSW REGIONAL

Self-Care Seminar, Friday 17 May, $60 / $120, 6 CPD Hours

CENTRAL COAST Gosford

Standard Mental Health First Aid, 2 Day Course, Monday 8 and Monday 29 April, $190 / $380, 12 CPD Hours

FAR WEST Broken Hill

Clinical Communication and Documentation, Wednesday 5 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours Bullying: Let’s put an end to it, Thursday 6 June, $50 / $100, 4 CPD Hours

HUNTER NEW ENGLAND Scone

Know where you stand with Law, Ethics and Professional Standards in Nursing and Midwifery, Wednesday 29 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Your Annual CPD Obligations, Thursday 30 May, $50 / $100, 4 CPD Hours, RN, EN, MW

ILLAWARRA SHOALHAVEN Dapto

Wound Care: Understanding Wound Care Products, Monday 15 April, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours Dementia Management Training, Wednesday 15 May, $95 / $190, 7 CPD Hours Alcohol and Other Drugs: The Current Situation, an update for all nurses and midwives, Friday 7 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Campbelltown

Ageing and Disability: New Challenges in Service Delivery, Wednesday 26 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Dee Why

Clinical Communication and Documentation, Wednesday 8 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

Gymea

Bullying: Let’s put an end to it, Wednesday 15 May, $50 / $100, 4 CPD Hours

Hornsby

The Deteriorating Client, Monday 8 April, $95 / $190, 5 CPD Hours How to get that dream job (Portfolio/ CV, Job Application and Interview Skills), Wednesday 12 June, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

MID NORTH COAST Port Macquarie

Medications: How we do it better, Wednesday 1 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours Clinical Communication and Documentation, Thursday 2 May, $95 / $190, 6 CPD Hours

NORTHERN NSW Ballina

Aged Care Seminar, Thursday 23 May, $60 / $120, 6 CPD Hours

SOUTHERN NSW Goulburn

Dementia Management Training, Tuesday 18 June, $95 / $190, 7 CPD Hours

For full details of courses including course content, venue & times, please go to www.nswnma.asn.au CPD

36 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

YOUR RIGHTS

Ask

Judith Breaking News Workplace accommodation in the NSW Health Service The release by the Ministry of Health of a new Policy Directive (PD) on workplace accommodation in the NSW Health Service is expected shortly. The new PD arises from a number of appearances by the NSWNMA in the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW. The new approach abandons the previous framework, which mandated the provision of enclosed office space to a number of positions within hospitals. The new PD (compared to earlier drafts) is better for the involvement of the Association. Its reach has at least been limited to ‘so-called’ non-operational areas. Accordingly, NUM/MUM offices are for example considered operational and will fall outside the scope of the PD, and will be managed under the Australasian Health Facilities Guidelines. The consultation framework is significantly tightened. Workers and unions must be consulted before any final floor plan is confirmed so a genuine opportunity exists to influence the outcome. It is open to workers and unions during the consultation process to advocate that certain positions – outside operational areas – warrant enclosed office space due to the nature and scope of their roles. Despite this progress, the new PD still means the starting point for nurse managers or specialist nursing and midwifery roles will be that no specific enclosed office space will be provided. The Association continues to believe that this approach is counter-productive and will ultimately reduce productivity and impact upon the management and delivery of the clinical journey. This is a misguided approach.

Changes to rosters I am a registered nurse working in a public hospital. Recently the hospital notified us that rosters would be changed, that have been in place for some time. Can they just decide?

When it comes to your rights and entitlements at work, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary Judith Kiejda has the answers.

In short, no, and disappointingly these types of unilateral changes arise too often without regard to collective or individual worker rights. Clause 6 (Introduction of Change) in the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives’ (State) Award sets out a number of examples that would require notification to employees and the Association to trigger consultation. One such situation is where: “… the alteration of hours of work for a … group of employees” is sought. Consultation is required to identify likely impacts, as well as measures that could mitigate any adverse effects. A good starting point for any discussion, of course, is always why the change is necessary.

Next pay increase at Estia When is the next pay increase due for nurses working in a nursing home run by Estia? Under the Estia Health NSW Enterprise Agreement 2016, the next pay increase (of 2.4 per cent) will commence in the first full pay period on or from 1 July 2019.

A change in bullying policy I work in a public hospital and have been told that the policy regarding the prevention of bullying has changed. Is this true? Yes. PD2018_016 (Prevention and Management of Workplace Bullying in NSW Health) was released last year. One of the important changes is an increased emphasis on prevention (Section 3). Increased recognition is placed on workplace bullying being a potential (or actual) work, health and safety (‘WHS’) issue, which will necessitate adopting a risk management approach as required by WHS legislation. The PD identifies a number of factors that contribute to incidences of bullying in the workplace, including: leadership style; change management practices; systems of work; workload; staffing levels; uncertain job expectations; skills gaps; workplace relationships; and

the work environment. Work has started to develop and introduce more standardised methods to be adopted across the state under the risk management approach. Good policy is a start. But good practice and changing culture is a real challenge in an environment where bullying, according to the 2018 People Matter Employee Survey, remains at worrying levels in the health system.

eLearning at Bupa I recently started working at a nursing home operated by Bupa. I have been told that I need to complete online learning. Is this in my own time? No. Per Clause 31.4 of the Bupa Aged Care Australia, NSWNMA, ANMF (NSW Branch) and HSU NSW Branch, New South Wales Enterprise Agreement 2018, Bupa requires employees to complete core modules through eLearning. This would normally be completed in work time. No employee will be expected or required to complete modules in their own time or on an unpaid basis.

Time in lieu of overtime I am currently working at the Northern Beaches Hospital under the Healthscope agreement. There is a fair bit of overtime around so I was wondering if I can take the time off instead? Under Clause 19(xiii) of the Healthscope Group – NSWNMA/ ANMF – NSW Nurses and Midwives’ – Enterprise Agreement 2015–2019, you can by mutual agreement take time off in lieu of receiving the overtime payment. It must, however, be taken within six months of it being accrued. If this is not possible, it is to be paid out at the appropriate overtime rate based on the rates of pay applying at the time payment is made. Accurate records must be maintained by your employer of hours owed.

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 37

ANNUAL CONFERENCE ICC, SYDNEY | 3-5 JULY 2019

Keynote Speakers

CRAIG REUCASSEL

Writer & Comedian, The War on Waste and The Chaser HEALTHCARE WASTE

tainability s u S e& r a C Promoting Self

KAMAL SARMA

Rezilium Director & Chair Conversations ThinkTank at R U OK? DIGITAL RESILIENCE: THRIVING IN A DIGITALLY TRANSFORMING WORLD

NSW Nurses & Midwives’ Professional Day

WEDNESDAY 3 JULY 9.30AM – 5.30PM ICC SYDNEY, PYRMONT THEATRE

Sophie Scott

ABC National Medical Reporter

SPEAKERS

Prof Susan Kurrle

Director, Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre & Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People, University of Sydney AGEING SUCCESSFULLY

Dr Sally Hunt

Clinical Psychologist & Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle WHY ARE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN DRINKING MORE AND WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

Dr Jacqui Pich

Lecturer & Researcher, University of Technology Sydney VIOLENCE IN NURSING AND MIDWIFERY

COST

Early-Bird Rate Full Rate (until Friday 7 June)

(8 to 21 June)

Members

$110

$160

Non-members

$160

$240

Retired Associate Members $60 and Student Members

$90

Branch Officials

Free

bit.ly/ educationNSWNMA REGISTRATION CLOSES 5pm, Friday 21 June

SOCIAL MEDIA

Do you have a story to tell? An opinion to share? Nurse Uncut is a blog written by everyday nurses and midwives. We welcome your ideas at nurseuncut@nswnma.asn.au

New on our Support Nurses YouTube channel

More education, lower workload for nurses saves patients’ lives MEL’S STORY New mum Mel tells us why she supports safe staffing ratios in maternity units http://bit.ly/ melonratios

SUSAN AND PAUL’S STORY Susan and Paul tell us why they think it’s time for safe nurse-topatient ratios. http://bit.ly/ susanpaulonratios

International research published in The Lancet shows that increased nurse staffing reduces patient mortality in hospitals. https://www.nurseuncut. com.au/more-education-and-lowerworkload-for-nurses-sees-patientslives-saved/

Welcome to your first job: expect to be underpaid, bullied, harassed or exploited Carla Ruiz, David Barlett and Emily Moir discuss how young people are being exploited in the current jobs market. https://www.nurseuncut.com.au/ welcome-to-your-first-job-expectto-be-underpaid-bullied-harassedor-exploited-in-some-way/

ACON welcomes NSW Labor pledge for NSW Pride Health and Community Centre

Connect with us on Facebook Nurse Uncut www.facebook. com/NurseUncutAustralia New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association www.facebook.com/nswnma Ratios put patient safety first www.facebook.com/ safepatientcare Aged Care Nurses www.facebook.com/ agedcarenurses Look for your local branch on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/nswnma

The AIDS Council of NSW has supported a pledge for a new Pride Health and Community Centre to cater for the needs of the LGBTIQ community. https://www.nurseuncut.com. au/acon-welcomes-nsw-laborpledge-for-nsw-pride-health-andcommunity-centre/

Share on Instagram by tagging @nswnma and don’t forget to use the hashtag #nswnma!

Join the NSWNMA team in this year’s Mother’s Day Classic! https://www. nurseuncut.com.au/register-to-runget-a-nswnma-running-shirt/

Unaffordable housing squeezes nurses and teachers out of Sydney Urban researchers are concerned about the cost of housing in Sydney, and explore why more needs to be done about it. https://www.nurseuncut. com.au/key-workers-like-nursesand-teachers-are-being-squeezedout-of-sydney-this-is-what-we-cando-about-it/

Listen to our podcast Using the NMBA Decision Making Framework – Dean Murphy http://bit.ly/ nmbaframework THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 39

Registration open now!

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40 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

SOCIAL MEDIA

your

Say

What nurses and midwives said and liked on Facebook www.facebook.com/nswnma

the gallery

quality of life IS still very important. So people who are too unwell to live independently don’t need care?

How low can aged care go?

Pollies in a parallel universe

News of maggots found in aged care resident’s head wound draws disgust:

We posted about the NSW Liberals and Nationals being out of touch for removing the requirement to have registered nurses 24/7 in aged care facilities. You seemed to agree.

I have seen the same thing in two different nursing homes that I worked for. I have seen a registered nurse sacked for refusing to admit a return resident from a hospital because she had no dressings to apply to wounds. It is not only incontinence pads that nursing homes skimp on to make profits. This facility should be shut down and those responsible charged with neglect. When I was on placement during my EEN training I was in a nursing home and it was dreadful. There were not enough staff, only one RN and one wound care nurse for over 100 residents. I got into trouble from the manager for asking for extra pads and for changing soiled sheets. It was just disgusting and turned me off working in aged care. There is no place for private for-profit rip-offs in public health and aged care. We will never forget what the Liberals did to our country, setting us back 100 years, back to the darkest ages of caring for others. Disgusting. Government needs to look more closely at what Bupa is actually doing.

Maybe that's why they rarely call them “nursing homes” because there are no nurses anymore? Aged residential facility is so much more vague... An acute case of the lunatics being in charge of the asylum!

This just shows how out of touch they really are, not to mention total disrespect for people who have contributed to society. If you are going to admit only people with highcare needs to aged care accommodation you must have RNs. An online carers course does not cut the mustard to look after such complex care needs. Great, so our already overcrowded EDs and hospitals will get worse because ENs and AiNs do not have the scope to handle some medical situations without the support of RNs. This will lead to so many more unnecessary transfers to hospital, leading to increased waiting times, backlog of ambulances for non-emergencies, higher infection risk rates and worse health outcomes to residents! This will end up costing so much more money to the government. So, who gives out the s8 drugs? All Liberal-serving parliamentarians should go into aged care facilities without RNs. I think they'll find that at 65+ their

A medical miracle We posted about the smallest boy born alive in the world, who was born in Japan in February. Here’s what you had to say about that little miracle. What is Japan doing so differently to get such vastly different, excellent results? Just beautiful. These little babies fight so hard. There is always hope. But what complications and late effects will he experience growing up? That’s amazing, I had twins at 34 weeks due to pre-eclampsia. I’d never had it before them and I’m still suffering after 17 years, but look what I have now! My nephew was born at 26 weeks, 440 grams and is now almost 8 years old. We had a grandson born at 25 weeks, 900 grams – and he’s just the best, happiest, littlest man ever!

1/ Nurses and midwives celebrate this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras, spreading the word that ratios save lives 2/ N urses Mel and Cassie ask their community to support ratios at the Bankstown Early Voting Centre 3/ N urses speak to the LGBTIQ community at this year’s Fair Day 4/ N SWNMA President O’Bray Smith is joined by fellow nurses to campaign for ratios in Revesby 5/ I llawarra Shoalhaven nurses and midwives rally for ratios in Wollongong before the election

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 41

Dreaming of Fiji?

Recruit a new member and go into the draw to win a 5-night holiday at the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa, Denarau THE 2018–2019 NSWNMA MEMBER RECRUITMENT SCHEME PRIZE The winner will experience a luxurious holiday at the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa, with the following inclusions (for two adults): • 5 nights’ accommodation in a Luxury Oceanside King Room • VIP Meet & Greet welcome at Nadi Airport along with return airport transfers provided by Rosie Holidays • Full buffet breakfast daily • 1 x Salt Sensations Beach Bure Dinner for two inclusive of arrival cocktail • 1 x 60-minute full body massage for 2 guests at SO Spa, including a glass of bubbles at the end of the treatment The NSWNMA will arrange return flights for two to Nadi International Airport Escape to the South Pacific and retreat to a Fiji beach resort, merging luxury hotel facilities with the destination’s natural beauty, vibrant culture and an elegant French touch. Experience a holiday in paradise. Relax and unwind.

Every member you sign up over the year gives you an entry in the draw!

Recruiter’s note: Join online at www.nswnma.asn.au If you refer a member to join online, make sure you ask them to put your name and workplace on the online application form. You will then be entered in to the NSWNMA Member Recruitment scheme draw. PRIZE DRAWN 30 JUNE 2019

Conditions opens 1/7/18 and closes 30/6/19. Prize must be redeemed by 30 June 2020 and is subject to room availability. Block- out dates include all Australian and NZ school holidays and 42 | apply. THECompetition LAMP APRIL 2019 Christmas / New Year period. The prize will be drawn on 30 June 2019. If a redraw is required for an unclaimed prize it must be held up to 3 months from the original draw date. NSW Permit no: LTPM/19/04224

NURSING RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

The Clinical Communiqué (http://vifmcommuniques.org/) – published by the Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine – is an electronic publication containing narrative case reports about lessons learned from coroners’ investigations into preventable deaths in acute hospital and community settings. The goal is to improve the awareness of health care professionals, clinicians and managers about the nature and circumstances of the systems failures that contributed to patient adverse events. Residential Aged Care Communiqué Volume 14 Issue 1 February 2019 This edition focuses on one case with so many issues it is almost too difficult to comprehend. Each gap in care probably would not have led to the resident’s death, but together, the combination was fatal. The case exemplifies the complexity of issues confronting the Royal Commission and highlights that improving aged care requires an approach that involves the whole community, as evident by the recommendations made by the coroner to multiple organisations. The case highlights issues including the challenges of managing residents entering respite care, management of behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), monitoring of highrisk medication and gaps in communicating relevant information between residential aged care and other health services.

http://vifmcommuniques. org/residential-aged-carecommunique-volume-14issue-1-february-2019/

Residential Aged Care Communiqué Volume 13 Issue 4 November 2018 This issue considers the findings of the Coroner’s Inquest into a resident death at an aged care facility in Oakden, South Australia, that occurred in 2008.

The finding was delivered in September 2018, more than 10 years after the death of the resident. Many readers are familiar with some aspect of the deficits in care at Oakden, which have been the subject of multiple investigations over the past few years leading to the closure of the facility. The recent announcement of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety will once again almost certainly consider what happened at Oakden. In this issue, key aspects of the case are summarised, to help gain a clear chronology of what happened and the implications for staff, aged care organisations, and the sector as a whole. This issue also explores why there are multiple inquiries and why it is not really possible to avoid this situation.

http://vifmcommuniques. org/residential-aged-carecommunique-volume-13issue-4-november-2018/

Residential Aged Care Communiqué Volume 13 Issue 3 August 2018 This edition examines the plight of young people who live in residential aged care services (RACS). There are a significant number of young people, defined as those under the age of 65 years, who rely on RACS for accommodation and care. The appropriateness of this existing arrangement and the availability of realistic alternative options are

hotly debated. The two cases highlight the common clinical issues confronting staff of RACS in the provision of care for younger residents, which can be quite different to older residents. The lessons learned from the cases around formulating and adhering to care plans as well as ensuring the staff have the necessary education and training also apply more generally to RACS.

http://vifmcommuniques. org/residential-aged-carecommunique-volume-13issue-3-august-2018/

Residential Aged Care Communiqué Volume 13 Issue 2 May 2018 This edition draws on two coronial cases – one from Australia and another from Canada – that highlight the complex and troubling theme of suicide in residential aged care services. Due to the nature of the content of this issue, the case studies and commentaries have been edited to contain minimal detail. This aligns with the Mindframe guidelines on reporting suicide and mental illness, to minimise risk to vulnerable persons. Evidence has shown that explicit descriptions of method used for suicide have been linked to increased rates of suicide.

http://vifmcommuniques. org/residential-aged-carecommunique-volume-13issue-2-may-2018/ THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 43

INSURANCE BENEFITS

For NSWNMA Members

Insurance protection when you need it most The NSWNMA is committed to protecting the interests of nurses and midwives by purchasing a range of insurances to cover members.

Journey Accident Insurance provides cover for members who are injured as a result of an accident while travelling between their home and their regular place of employment.

Professional Indemnity Insurance provides legal representation and protection for members when required. Make sure your membership remains financial at all times in order to access the insurance and other benefits provided by the NSWNMA.

Unsure if you are financial?

It’s easy! Ring and check today on 8595 1234 (metro) or 1300 367 962 (rural) Change your payment information online at www.nswnma.asn.au

www.nswnma.asn.au 44 |

IMPORTANT NOTE From 1 December 2018 the insurance benefits have changed as follows: • Journey Accident Insurance: the waiting period for benefits is now 14 days THE LAMP APRIL 2019 • Professional Indemnity Insurance: the limit per claim is now $5 million

CROSSWORD

test your

Knowledge 1

8 10

9 11

13 14

18 23

24 25

29 30 31

36 37

ACROSS 1. Help, assist 5. Near or adjacent to the nose 8. A translucent corneal opacity 9. Strange 10. A gradual decline 11. A back-and-forth motion 13. Consumers 14. Relating to stitches 16. ĂĽA method of treating chemical imbalances in the body by use of vitamins 18. Outpatient (1.1) 19. Symbol for calcium

20. Symbol for cerium 22. Knee jerk (8.6) 24. A strong, water-soluble base 25. Oral contraceptive (1.1) 28. Terminate 29. Device for measurement of muscular strength 30. A linear elevation, crest 31. Moving towards a centre 35. Upper limb 36. A person who places expediency above principle 37. A highly poisonous metallic element

DOWN 2. Relating to employment 3. To clean between teeth 4. Otoscope 5. Area behind the knee 6. Relating to a joint 7. A vehicle to transport ill or injured patients 11. The branch of medical science concerned with disorders or deformities of the bones and joints 12. A threadlike structure found in the cytoplasm of a neuron 14. Common sweetener 15. Symbol for tantalum 17. Movement 21. The external warmth of the body 23. Symbol for aluminium 26. The angle of the eye 27. Inflammation of the colon 28. Exposes to oxygen 29. Medulla 32. Hearing organs 33. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (1.1.1.1) 34. Mentally quick and resourceful 35. Aged care worker (1.1.1)

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 45

EARLY BIRD RATES UNTIL 16 APRIL Save up to $10 per registration

Calling all runners, joggers & walkers join us on SUNDAY 12 MAY for the To register

The Mother’s Day Classic held on 12 May is a national fun run raising money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Come along and join in the fun on Mother’s Day as we make our way around the Domain in Sydney, or around any one of the events held across NSW. There are running and walking events to cater for all levels of fitness. Register and nominate the Association as your team. All participating members will receive a NSWNMA team running shirt for the day*.

1 www.mothersdayclassic.com.au/register 2 Enter your details and select the event and race 3 When prompted with the page asking if “you would like to join a team” select YES 4 Search and select our team name – NSW Nurses & Midwives’ Association using team password NSWNMA if prompted. *To be eligible for the team running shirt, please register by 10 April.

Volunteers Needed

We are also looking for volunteers at the NSWNMA-sponsored water stations to hand out water and refreshments at the Domain and Parramatta events. Please contact Miriam Galea at events@nswnma.asn.au

The Edith Cavell Trust is now able to receive non-tax deductable donations/bequests. The Trust – named in honour of Edith Cavell – assists in the advancement of NSW nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing/midwifery through further studies and research, made available through scholarship. The knowledge and expertise gained by nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing/ midwifery, supported by the Edith Cavell Scholarships, is an asset to the care of their patients and clients. Bequests to the Trust continue to support this important work. Edith, a British nurse serving in Belgium in WW1, is a hero to most nurses and midwives. She helped some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. Her actions saw her arrested, accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. NAME ADDRESS

Cavell Edith

TRUST BEQUESTS

PHONE

BEQUEST/ DONATION AMOUNT

PREFERRED METHOD OF PAYMENT Electronic Fund Transfer Account name: Edith Cavell Trust Bank: Commonwealth Bank BSB: 062-017 Account no: 10017908 Credit Card I authorise the Edith Cavell Trust (processed via NSWNMA) to debit my credit card for the amount of Mastercard

Visa

Card no Signature of Cardholder 46 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

Name on Card Expiry Date

REVIEWS

book club

All the latest Book Club reviews from The Lamp can be read online at www.nswnma.asn.au/ library-services/book-reviews.

All books can be ordered through the publisher or your local bookshop. Call 8595 1234 or 1300 367 962, or email gensec@nswnma.asn.au for assistance with loans or research. Some books are reviewed using information supplied and have not been independently reviewed.

IN AL TE

SPE C

S PE

Brian Best and Katie Slossel (available through Pen & Sword) www.pen-and-sword.co.uk RRP $57.99. ISBN 9781844154258 C

ST RE

I Sister Janet – Nurse And Heroine Of The Anglo-Zulu War 1879

IN T Janet Wells was only 18 years old when decorated for her nursingLservice to the Russians in the 1878 Balkan War. The following year she became the only nurse to serve at the front in the Anglo-Zulu War. After a period in Northern Zululand she was sent to the garrison at Rorke’s Drift very soon after the legendary action which took place there. After returning to England in time for her 20th birthday her achievements were recognised when she was awarded the Royal Red Cross.

Essentials Of Nursing Adults Karen Elcock, Wendy Wright, Paul Newcombe and Fiona Everett Sage Publishing: https://www.sagepub.com RRP $149.99. ISBN 9781473974203

This book offers a firm foundation in health promotion. It helps you to understand the process of planning, implementing and assessing programs in the real world. Globally recognised as the definitive text on health promotion.

This book will enable students to understand the core aspects of care, learn essential nursing skills and knowledge that underpin practice, deal with the complexities of the role and apply what has been learnt to common conditions and patient groups. The book has been developed to provide a complete learning resource for nursing students.

An Introduction To Mental Health

Health Promotion – Planning And Strategies 4th Edition

This book is essential reading for anyone learning the fundamentals of mental health. Written for an interdisciplinary audience with a patient-centred focus covering historical context through to contemporary issues, including mental health as it relates to the law and policy. This resource provides up-todate research and important examples of application to practice.

Jackie Green, Ruth Cross, James Woodall and Keith Tones age Publishing: https:// www.sagepub.com RRP $251.75. I SBN 9781526419477

Jo Augustus, Justine Bold and Briony Williams Sage Publishing https://www. mheducation. com.au RRP $64.50. ISBN 9781526423634

Toxic Nursing – Managing Bullying, Bad Attitudes And Total Turmoil Cheryl Dellasega and Rebecca Volpe Sigma Theta Tau International: http://www.booktopia. com.au RRP $ 75.99 ISBN 978193755442

Nurse Managers and nurse administrators at all levels are frequently confronted by the need to manage employee issues arising from interpersonal relationships. These include conflict, cynicism and calamity. As a much needed follow up to When Nurses Hurt Nurses, this book offers numerous concrete strategies for common employee challenges faced by nurse supervisors.

THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 47

Enrolled Nurse Seminar

CPD

Friday 24 May NSWNMA 50 O’Dea Ave. Waterloo 9.15am to 3.30pm

All Members $60 Non-members $120 Lunch & refreshments provided

PROGRAM: • How much are you worth: The Value of Enrolled Nurses Olivia Mulligan, Nurse Educator/Education & Training Developer, District HETI Professional Practice & Interprofessional Collaboration; • PEG Management and Care Joanne Purdue, Professional Officer NSWNMA; • Pain Assessment and Management Pippa Osbourn, CNS Acute Pain Service, Calvary Mater Newcastle; • Advanced Care Directives the Legal Perspective Matt Byrne, Legal Officer NSWNMA; • Wound Photography Debbie Blanchard, CNC Wound Care Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD.

bit.ly/educationNSWNMA

PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION 2019

ORDER FORM 1 3 2

1 Snowy Puffer Jacket $50. Quantity:

Size:

10 S

12 M

14 L

16 XL

18 2XL

3XL

16 XL

2XL

3XL

16 XL

2XL

3XL

2 Navy Hoodies $45. Quantity:

Size:

10 S

12 M

14 L

3 Red Hoodies $45. Quantity:

10 S

Size:

12 M

14 L

Postage and Handling $5 per item. Total cost of order $ Name Address 1 Snowy Puffer Jacket $50. Sizes: Ladies 10-18 and Unisex

S-3XL. Light, warm and comfortable to wear. 380T nylon outer, poly fill padding. Two zippered pockets and elasticated cuffs. Top value for cold winter conditions. 2 Navy Hoodies $45. Sizes:10-16 and S-3XL. 80% cotton/20% poly brushed fleece, kangaroo pocket with full lining hood. 3 Red Hoodies $45. Sizes:10-16 and S-3XL. 80% cotton/20% poly brushed fleece, kangaroo pocket with full lining hood.

TO ORDER » WWW.NSWNMA.ASN.AU

FAX (02) 9662 1414 POST NSWNMA, 50 O’Dea Ave. Waterloo NSW 2017 48 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

Postcode Phone H

MOB Email Method of Payment Cheque

MasterCard

Visa

Name of card holder Card number Expiry date

Signature

Money Order

REVIEWS

at the movies

If you would like to be a movie reviewer, email lamp@nswnma.asn.au

WIN

MEM RO

R BE

ME T

The Chaperone

GIV E

The Chaperone takes place amid the backdrop of the tumultuous times of the early 1920’s. The life of a Kansas woman (Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey) is forever changed when she chaperones a beautiful and talented 15-year-old dancer named Louise Brooks (Haley Lu Richardson, Law and Order) to New York for the summer. One of them is eager to fulfil her destiny of dance and movie stardom; the other hopes to unearth the mysteries of her past. The Film reunites the writer, director and star of Downton Abbey TV Series. The Chaperone, based on Laura Moriarty’s best-selling book, is scripted by Julian Fellowes, directed by Michael Engler, and stars Elizabeth McGovern, who plays Lady. In Cinemas – 25 April 2019 Twitter: @studiocanalaus www.thechaperonemovie.com.au Email The Lamp by 20 April to be in the draw to win one of 10 double passes to The Chaperone thanks to StudioCanal. Email your name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au for a chance to win!

Email The Lamp by the end of April to be in the draw to win one of 10 copies of Trapped thanks to Acorn Media. Email your name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au for a chance to win!

RUR

Agatha Raisin Series 2

Trapped is the highest rated series ever in Iceland with The Guardian calling it “seductive, involving [and] gripping”. Outside the Icelandic Parliament in Reykjavík, the minister of Industry is walking the square to attend a meeting when someone calls out her name. It’s a man – wet from top to toe – smelling of gasoline. Before the minister realises what to do, the man grabs her and sets fire to both of them. Andri Ólafsson – who now has become the head of the police investigation in Reykjavík – goes up north to investigate. This was a murder attempt but what was the motive? He is also under pressure from the prime minister and the government, who think this might have been an act of terrorism – as there are currently some very controversial things connected to an expansion of a power plant near the town of Siglufjörður.

MEM AL

R BE

Trapped Season 2

GIV E

Village life can be bloody murder. Ashley Jensen reprises her role of city PR turned country sleuth in six new episodes of Agatha Raisin. Adapted from the bestselling books by MC Beaton, the first series was an instant hit on Global TV, creating a strong fan base around the world. Email The Lamp by the end of April to be in the draw to win one of 10 copies of Agatha Raisin Series 2 thanks to Acorn Media. Email your name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au for a chance to win! THE LAMP APRIL 2019 | 49

DIARY DATES

make a date

Diary Dates for conferences, seminars, meetings and reunions is a free service for members. lamp@nswnma.asn.au

EVENTS: NSW The Art and Science of Spiritual Care Friday 5 April 2019 The Shalom Centre, 157 Balaclava Rd, Marsfield www.ncf-australia.org Nurses’ Christian Fellowship Professional Breakfast Saturday 4 May 2019 Neringah Hospital, 4–12 Neringah Ave, Wahroonga www.ncf-australia.org

Please send event details in the format used here: event name, date and location, contact details – by the 5th of each preceding month. Send your event details to: lamp@nswnma.asn.au Fax 02 9662 1414 Post 50 O’Dea Ave, Waterloo NSW 2017. All listings are edited for the purposes of style and space. Priority is given to non-profit professional events.

INTERNATIONAL World Vaccine Congress 14–17 April 2019 Washington DC https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/ world-vaccine-congress-washington/ index.stm Council of International Neonatal Nurses Conference Enriched family – enhanced care 5–8 May 2019, Auckland, New Zealand www.coinn2019.com

42nd Australian Association of Stomal Therapy Nurses Conference: Power of Connections – Coming Together 19–22 May 2019, SMC Conference and Function Centre Sydney. http://www.stomaltherapyconference. com/

7th World Congress on Nursing and Healthcare Recent Innovations for Better Healthcare and The Facets of Nursing 17–18 June 2019 London, UK https://www.scientificfederation.com/ wcnh-2019/

2nd Women’s and Newborns Health Conference 3–4 May 2019, Westmead Hospital Marjan.Khajehei@health.nsw.gov.au

International Council of Nurses 2019 Congress 27 June–1 July 2019 Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore http://www.icn.ch/events/ ICN-Congress-Singapore-June-2019/

EVENTS: INTERSTATE Lowitja Institute Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 17–20 June 2019, Darwin, NT http://www.nirakn.edu.au/ event/2019-lowitja-instituteinternational-indigenous-healthand-wellbeing-conference/

International Council of Nurses (ICN) 21st International Conference on Nursing 25–26 September 2019 London, United Kingdom www.icn.ch/ EVENTS: REUNIONS RPAH April ’79 Graduate Nurses Reunion

50 | THE LAMP APRIL 2019

Saturday 6 April 2019 graemechead@gmail.com St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst March 1979 PTS Group 40-Year Nursing Reunion Saturday 4 May 2019 6 pm Polo Lounge, Darlinghurst Mary Norman (Anderson) mary_norman@me.com St George Hospital June 1979 PTS Reunion 15 June 2019 Contact Anne O’Callaghan 0422 068 045 50-year Anniversary Sydney Hospital Graduate Nurses 1969–1972 Reunion Lunch September 2019 Kathleen 0420305906 / pkwall33@tpg.com.au Susan C. 0400723020 / denis.p1@bigpond.com CROSSWORD SOLUTION

Welcome to

Improved communication channels and engagement

MEMBER CENTRAL

Seamless access to membership details Functionality at your fingertips

THE NEW ONLINE SYSTEM FOR NSWNMA MEMBERS

Unique NSWNMA member login with email

Create your new member login account & you could win a trip to Bali! Log on to online.nswnma.asn.au and create your login to be automatically entered in the draw to win a 5-night holiday to

THE TRANS RESORT BALI, SEMINYAK

You and a friend will enjoy: • Five nights’ accommodation in a Premier Room • Return airport transfer • Breakfast daily for two • One x Friday night buffet or set dinner for two • One x Sunday Yum Cha for two • One x 30-minute massage for two • 20% off Food & Beverage.

The NSWNMA will arrange and pay for return flights for two to Denpasar, Bali.

online.nswnma.asn.au

log on and create your login from 1 Feb 2019 – 31 Jan 2020 and you will automatically be entered in the draw to win.

Prize drawn 1 Feb 2020

Full terms and conditions are available at www.nswnma.asn.au/nswnmamembers/contests-and-promotions Conditions apply. Prize must be redeemed by 31 January 2021 and is subject to room availability. Block out dates: 23 – 29 January 2020 , 21 – 31 May 2020, 1 June – 31 July 2020 and 23 December 2020 – 6 January 2021. Competition opens on 1 February 2019 and closes 31 January 2020. The prize will be drawn on 1 February 2020. If a redraw is required for an unclaimed prize it must be held up to 3 months from the original draw date. NSW Permit no: LTPM/19/04224