The Lamp August 2013

lamp THE MAGAZINE OF THE NSW NURSES AND MIDWIVES’ ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 70 No.7 AUGUST 2013

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CONTENTS

lamp THE

CONTACTS NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association For all membership enquiries and assistance, including Lamp subscriptions and change of address, contact our Sydney office.

VOLUME 70 No.7 AUGUST 2013

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 Hunter Office 8-14 Telford Street, Newcastle East NSW 2300

COVER STORY

12 | A show of strength About 3000 NSWNMA members rallied at Sydney Olympic Park, and another 2000 at 17 regional webcast venues, to send a message to the O’Farrell Government: improve and extend ratios.

5 6 8 29 37 40 41 43 48 50

Editorial Your letters News in brief Ask Judith Social Media Nursing research online Crossword Books Movie of the month Diary dates

COST OF HEALTH

35 | When baby breaks the bank

CAMPAIGNING

22 | I see red

Nurses and midwives at state public hospitals and community health services wore red to work in protest at the government’s inaction.

49 | Win family fun at Mercure Sydney

Produced by Hester Communications T 9568 3148

Editorial Committee • Brett Holmes, NSWNMA General Secretary • Judith Kiejda, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary • Coral Levett, NSWNMA President • Roz Norman, Tamworth Base Hospital • Elsie May Henson, Barraba Multi Purpose Service • Peg Hibbert, Hornsby & Ku-Ring-Gai Hospital • Michelle Cashman, Long Jetty Continuing Care • Richard Noort, Justice Health Advertising Patricia Purcell T 8595 2139 or 0416 259 845 or F 9662 1414 E ppurcell@nswnma.asn.au Records and Information Centre – Library To find old articles from The Lamp, or to borrow from the NSWNMA nursing and health collection, contact: Jeannette Bromfield, RIC Coordinator T 8595 2175 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au

NDIS

24 | DisabilityCare open for business

The Hunter region was the launch site for the national rollout of Labor’s historic reform to disability services.

COMPETITION

FOR ALL EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES, LETTERS AND DIARY DATES: T 8595 1234 E lamp@nswnma.asn.au M 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017

Press Releases Send your press releases to: F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au

PHOTOGRAPH: SHARON HICKEY

REGULARS

NSWNMA Communications Manager Janaki Chellam-Rajendra T 8595 1258

COST OF HEALTH

32 | Queensland first: the rest to follow

The Queensland public health system, once the envy of all Australian states has been hit by closures and job losses.

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 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 2013 Free to all Association members. Professional members can subscribe to the magazine at a reduced rate of $50.

Individuals $78, Institutions $130, Overseas $140.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 3

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EDITORIAL

BY BRETT HOLMES GENERAL SECRETARY

We’re not going away The O’Farrell Government wants nurses and midwives to just go away, but it isn’t going to happen: we’re in for the long haul.

We are going to have to fight harder to achieve a win.

First of all — congratulations! Our statewide strike on 24 July was a great success and the O’Farrell Government should now be under no illusions about our resolve to fight for a better public health system in New South Wales.

Momentum had been building throughout a year in which we rallied, we wore red, and we took our fight right to the doors of Parliament in Macquarie Street.

All those actions culminated with 3000 nurses and midwives rallying at Sydney Olympic Park and another 2000 coming together in Albury, Broken Hill, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Goulburn, Grafton, Griffith, Kempsey, Lismore, Merimbula, Nowra, Orange, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, Tamworth, Tweeds Heads and Wagga Wagga.

We all know that it was strike action nearly three years ago that led the previous government to commence negotiations with us, which eventually provided for 1580 new positions that are protected in the Award.

This time we have a different government with a growing track record of contempt for the public sector. We cannot assume that nursing and midwifery jobs are safe. The government proudly talks about 4000 new nurses in the system (2745 FTE) which includes the 1580 FTE created by ratios/nursing hours.

So let’s be clear about this. There are 1120 (FTE) new positions that could be removed at the whim of government because, as far as we can tell, they are not protected by the Award ratios/nursing hours staffing clause. Just look at what is happening in Queensland right now where experienced nurses are being “dismissed” to make way for new graduates, on lower pay and less hours, to save the Liberal-National Party government money.

Think about those numbers: 150 experienced nurses and clinical specialists will be dismissed to be replaced by 130 first year registered nurses on temporary contracts in the Metro North Hospital and Health Services of Queensland. That is the behavior of a sick and cynical government with unfettered power.

We have to show our state government we won’t stand for that sort of behaviour here in New South Wales.

IT WILL TAKE A COMMUNITY, WORKPLACE AND POLITICAL CAMPAIGN So far the O’Farrell Government hasn’t given an inch in our campaign to improve and extend ratios. So, we are going to have to fight harder to achieve a win. The July 24 strike was just the beginning of our show of strength. We will have to fight with everything we’ve got and be ready for the long haul. We have to dig deep and be even more resolute.

Because, in the long haul, we will need to make the government change it’s draconian workplace laws to allow genuine bargaining between the employer and public sector unions.

We are at the beginning of a long, community, workplace and political campaign. We have to turn up the heat on government members of parliament until they can’t take it anymore and tell their Cabinet colleagues to act in the best interests of their constituents, or face the consequences.

And if they don’t? Well in the lead up to the 2015 state election we have to be out there talking to our communities, even door knocking in our electorates if we have to.

NO MORE “MAKE DO” We have to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to put health and ratios on the agenda of the voting public’s mind, and to make sure that, whichever government is in power, they commit to ratios and patient safety.

The ALP opposition is now saying they support us. We welcome that but we need to see that commitment in a policy leading up to the next state election.

The O’Farrell Government wants you to “make do” with what you’ve got. We know we have to make do when there are no other options but we don’t want to make do any longer. We want safe nurse-to-patient ratios for our patients – all our patients, in every hospital. We want sustainable face-to-face hours for our community nurses and patients. We’re in for the long haul.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 5

YOUR LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Working together brings confidence I went to Bathurst last month with 16 other nurses representing their country electorates and some very enthusiastic NSWNMA organisers (The Lamp July, “Nationals get health message”).

It was an amazing experience! Some of the benefits I gained from participating were: A better understanding of the ratios issues, which will give me confidence to talk my local MP. I am holding a branch meeting this week and feel better able to explain the

current ratios campaign situation with members.

I gained confidence in campaigning with other nurses with the NSWMNA organisers alongside me, and am hoping this will give me the ideas and confidence to do the same at home.

It was a great opportunity for networking. I was able to get the contact details of other nurses and learn some of their ideas on how they update their branch members, like

Protect prison staff from second-hand smoke Friday May 31 was World No Tobacco Day. It seems the New South Wales, O’Farrell Government, is spending millions of dollars on health advertisements, telling us how dangerous tobacco smoking is to our health, yet failing to address the dangers of second-hand smoke.You can’t smoke in hospitals, schools, pubs and clubs or government departments because second-hand smoke is toxic and contains more than 60 carcinogenic chemicals that cause throat, breast, bowel and other cancers.

Yet the New South Wales government is happy for nurses, other staff, and inmates in New South Wales’ prisons to breathe these contaminants in daily, risking cancer and lung disease years later. Good one Barry.

New Zealand prisons can go smoke-free in 12 months: why are they smarter than us? The New South Wales government has only been working on it since 2000 – can’t rush these things!

I condemn the O’Farrell Government’s failure to protect nurses and prison staff from toxic tobacco smoke.

Anthony Craig, Lithgow NSWNMA RESPONDS Thank you for your letter, which raises a very important workplace safety issue for nurses. We acknowledge your frustration with this longstanding problem. Your letter highlights the concerns of workers and society generally about the dangers of tobacco smoke.

The NSWNMA strongly supports the protection of workers from all workplace risks, including side-stream smoke, and has been active in the Lithgow smoke-free building trial as a step in the broader implementation of smoke-free correctional facilities. As bans on smoking are being extended to many indoor and outdoor areas throughout Australia, via government and council rules and regulations, so also are smoking bans being extended in facilities run by Corrections NSW, either as total smoke-free campuses or as smoke-free buildings.

We will continue to support and lobby, wherever possible, until exposure of nurses to tobacco smoke is eliminated in all workplaces where the risk is identified.

The NSWNMA also strongly supports the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) theme for No Tobacco Day 2013, which called for action to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The Association encourages all members to actively engage with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which encourages the public to demand a ban on all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

6 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

setting up a local Facebook page.

Seeing the NSWNMA investment in this action was very encouraging as it showed how serious our union is about supporting this claim for extending ratios.

Thank you to the NSWNMA for inviting me to come to Bathurst. Like all the others, I did attend in my own time, but it was fun and the stay at Rydges and the nice dinners were a treat, so thanks!

Deborah Noakes, Forster

Ratios for gold standard The politics of nursing are changing all over the world – in a direction that is not in keeping with the provision of gold standard health care.

However, at its centre is, and always will be, patient care. Not just adequate care but care of utmost quality and professionalism. Nurse-topatient ratios are the only way this care can be supplied. It is therefore absolutely necessary that nurses convince the government to agree to the ratios that have been proven to work.

Karen Francis, Brookvale

letter of the

month The letter judged the best each month will be awarded a $50 Coles Myer voucher.

“Whatever your next purchase, remember Union Shopper. After all, who can think of a reason NOT to save.”

unionshopper.com.au • 1300 368 117 Correction: In the July 2013 Lamp (Why we went to Bathurst, page 15) Leonie Keen from Queanbeyan Hospital was mistakenly described as an RN. Leonie is in fact an EEN medical/surgical ward.

SAYSOMETHING 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.

YOUR LETTERS

Privatisation of public: what you stand to lose In The Lamp article, June 2013 “Privatised public health restarts on the Northern Beaches”, the potential negative impacts on the community were clearly outlined.

We have been through a decade-long (19942004) failed experiment of private management at Port Macquarie’s public hospital, and nurses and midwives working in public hospital services in the northern beaches would be well advised to learn from our experiences.

Guarantees from politicians and health bureaucrats on continuation of public award entitlements will end up being interpreted by private management to their best advantage.

While wage rates can be protected, other public award conditions may not be as secure. For example, we missed out on the rollout of funding for 10-hour night shifts as we were considered a “private” hospital. The flat management structure of the privatised hospital meant that NUMs/MUMs had additional tasks added to their workloads.

In 2004, when the hospital came under public management, we were well behind in the numbers of nurses and midwives in consultant and education positions. Under private management fewer allied health staff than would be normally expected in a publicly managed Base Hospital, meant that nurses and midwives had additional tasks in trying to cover for these staffing shortfalls.

Recruitment and promotion in the public service has a level of transparency that is absent in the private sector.

The private management will favour appointment of staff with the right corporate mindset. Even on the day-to-day staffing of wards, when you have nurses and midwives employed under both Public and Private Awards, pressures to reduce wage costs inevitably influence who is offered additional or overtime shifts. Private management will seek to reduce the number of staff employed under the public award. Tactics that were employed at Port Macquarie included using requests for variation in hours of employment to shift staff onto new contracts under the private award.

Diminished direct connection to the public sector meant that the paths for career development in the public sector were less accessible.

We had to fight against the widespread introduction of AiNs under the guise of this being an innovative model of care.

While AiNs are a valued group of nurses, our Association has rightly advocated that there must be controls on their practice settings. Indeed, this is part of the current award claim. When we win the fight for further improvements in staffing ratios, there must be doubt on whether these hard-won gains will automatically be applied in a privately managed public hospital.

Finally, if in the end privatisation proceeds, demand and keep documentation of any guarantees for protection of your employment conditions.

At Port Macquarie, diligence in this proved invaluable in holding the private operator to these commitments.

Ken Procter, Port Macquarie Base Hospital Branch President

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Sobering-up centres risky

Nurses look after refugees More than 1500 newly arrived refugees in Sydney have benefitted from a $1.5 million nurse-led health screening program, according to NSW Health. The program began in October last year.

The Refugee Health Nurse Program provides health assessments and screening tests to newly arrived refugees across the state and links individuals and families to GPs and the NSW Health System.

All refugees who arrive in Sydney as part of the Offshore Humanitarian Program are offered an initial assessment through the Refugee Health Nurse Program.

“Within two weeks of arriving in Australia refugees are seen at one of the 11 clinics we run across Sydney, with the exception of those who have been flagged overseas as having an immediate health problem, who are seen within 24 hours,” Dr Mitchell Smith, director of the NSW Refugee Health Service said.

“THE REASON THESE DRUNK TANKS WERE ABOLISHED IN THE FIRST PLACE WAS BECAUSE PEOPLE USED TO DIE IN POLICE CELLS WHEN THEY WERE NOT BEING OBSERVED.”

Nurses are often the first health professionals the newly arrived refugees come into contact with. The program also assists refugees and asylum seekers who come from immigration detention centres.

An alliance of emergency service workers has voiced concern about the safety of sobering-up centres being trialled by the New South Wales government.

The opening of the first centres, located in the Sydney’s CBD and eastern suburbs, coincided with the final rugby test between the British and Irish Lions and the Wallabies. The mandatory centre in the CBD was set up in police cells and run by police officers, while another in Coogee was operated by a nongovernment agency.

Opposition health spokesman Andrew McDonald says sobering-up centres are inherently dangerous.

“You cannot tell if somebody has had too much to drink, too much of a dangerous drug or has a head injury or diabetes,” he said. “The reason these drunk tanks were abolished in the first place was because people used to die in police cells when they were not being observed.”

Last Drinks Coalition spokesman, and NSWNMA secretary Brett Holmes, says the government needs to deal with the real issue of alcohol abuse.

“Police will be faced with making a complex medical diagnosis they’re not trained to conduct,” he said. “Justice Health advised the NSWNMA of its staffing levels and opened the door to the cells to allow an OHS inspection on the day prior to the commencement of the service. Two nurses will look after 8 cells where highly intoxicated patients will be observed and cared for before release.”

Brett Holmes says it is a haphazard approach that will put safety at risk. The government says it will open a third sobering-up centre in Wollongong by the end of the year.

Health jobs face chop if government changes

“WITHIN TWO WEEKS OF ARRIVING REFUGEES ARE SEEN AT ONE OF THE 11 CLINICS WE RUN ACROSS SYDNEY…”

With a federal election in the offing, public servants in Canberra could be excused for some sleepless nights. Public servants working for the health department have special reason to be worried.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has said: “The public service here in Canberra has to be reduced by 12,000 over the first two years as a starting point”.

When journalist Chris Uhlmann asked Hockey, on the ABC’s 7.30 program, whether the Coalition intended to cut 20,000 public service jobs he confirmed, “we’ve already said that”.

Tony Abbott has made it clear the health department in particular would be in for some rough treatment. In his budget reply speech this year, he said: “The objective will be to reduce and end, as far as possible, the waste, duplication and second guessing between different levels of government that has resulted, for instance, in the Commonwealth employing 6000 health bureaucrats, even though it doesn’t run a single hospital.”

“THE PUBLIC SERVICE HERE IN CANBERRA HAS TO BE REDUCED BY 12,000 OVER THE FIRST TWO YEARS AS A STARTING POINT.” – JOE HOCKEY

8 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

NEWS IN BRIEF

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NZ unions support school nurses

INFO SESSIONS ON 1 & 2 OCTOBER

A nurse will be put in every New Zealand low decile primary and intermediate school if the Greens are elected to government, giving basic health care services to 112,000 children, reported the NZ Herald.

A school’s decile rating indicates the extent to which it draws its students from low socioeconomic communities.

Greens co-leader Metiria Turei (above) announced the policy as part of the party’s child poverty strategy. The policy would require 280 new school nurses, who would care for children in 650 schools that are not currently funded. It would cost $30 million a year.

“We know that poverty, ill health and educational underachievement go hand-in-hand,” Mrs Turei said. “Our policy takes the health care to where it is most needed and where it is most easily accessed.”

The policy was one of the key recommendations by the New Zealand Nurses’ Organisation in its submission to the government’s Green Paper on Vulnerable Children. Teachers’ unions backed the strategy. More than half of the $30 million would go towards salaries for nurses and the remainder would cover medical costs, diagnostic tests, and administration costs. The jobs are expected to be taken by experienced nurses, with the policy allowing for salaries of around $60,000 - similar to a senior nurse at a hospital.

A paper released with the policy said that 20% of graduate nurses were unable to find jobs in New Zealand.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Abbott changes tune on standard of living For all of his leadership of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott has peddled a constant line about how we are all suffering from debilitating and rising “cost of living pressures” especially because of the carbon tax.

It is a line he seems now to have abandoned in an interview with the influential US magazine, World Affairs.

In the interview Mr Abbott conceded that Australia was “undeniably successful”, with a “high and rising standard of living” and “a relatively happy recent history”.

As journalist Lenore Taylor pointed out in an article on the online, Australian edition of the Guardian newspaper, Abbott’s new analysis, unlike his rhetoric, is consistent with the facts.

Taylor quotes research by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (Natsem), which found that at the end of last year the average Australian household was more than $200 a week better off than it was in the mid-1980s and in fact, the Australian standard of living “has never been better”.

Natsem found lower interest rates had more than compensated for recent electricity and gas price rises, “even if the latter was front of mind for many households”.

Natsem’s findings were supported

by Lonergan Research’s cost of living survey.

Australia’s recent economic success is particularly impressive when seen relative to the rest of a developed world, which has been hammered by the Global Financial Crisis.

Almost alone in the developed world, Australia has maintained an unemployment rate between five and 6%, and has added almost one million jobs. The Australian economy is 13% bigger, partly due to what Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz described as “probably the bestdesigned stimulus package of any of the countries, advanced industrial countries, both in size and in design, timing and how it was spent”.

10 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

UNDERPAID BY OVER

Paid in pizza The Fair Work Ombudsman recently revealed that more than 100, mostly teenaged employees, working at a pair of Melbourne pizza restaurants had been underpaid by over a quarter of a million dollars.

Apparently the restaurant owner believed he could “top up” their sub-minimum wages by providing pizza and soft drinks. The ACTU warned other such cases would be common if the push from business and the Coalition for more workplace flexibility succeeded.

“Business has been out making their views on workplace relations very clear: they don’t want to pay penalty rates, they don’t want to pay additional superannuation, they want more ‘flexibility’ – but all on their own terms,” said ACTU secretary Dave Oliver.

“When the Coalition says it will introduce individual flexibility agreements into our industrial relations system, it is paving the way for more employers to pay their workers in pizza rather than in fair wages.”

Wendy Davis

Marathon woman stalls anti-abortion vote Wendy Davis, a Texas senator, delayed a vote on an anti-abortion bill by speaking for nearly 11 hours. Davis’ filibuster aimed to prevent a bill from being passed in the Texas senate that would ban abortions after the 20-week gestation mark, limit access to abortion-inducing drugs, and require abortions to be performed in ambulatory surgical centres.

Advocates say these and other restrictions in the bill would also cause the closure of 37 of Texas’s 42 abortion clinics.

Under Texas’ Senate rules, Davis was not allowed to sit, lean against a desk, eat, drink, go to the bathroom, or talk about anything unrelated to the bill.

Davis’ epic stand engendered massive nationwide support on social media, which mushroomed during the speech. Even President Barack Obama tweeted his support and a live streaming of proceedings on YouTube attracted 100,000 viewers.

EDUCATION@NSWNMA

NEWS IN BRIEF

ACTU supports new 457 visa laws ACTU secretary Dave Oliver says new laws introduced by the Rudd Government would ensure employers had to advertise locally before 457 visa holders were brought in to fill local positions.

“These laws meet the Australian community’s expectations that 457 visas should only be used to fill genuine skill shortages,” Mr Oliver said. “They also serve to protect overseas workers from exploitation, as they would be satisfying actual skill shortages instead of being used as a short term stop-gap by employers who prefer a vulnerable workforce.”

Dave Oliver says the ACTU remains concerned that employers want to use 457 visas to push down wages and conditions, and criticised the federal opposition for opposing the laws.

“It’s disappointing the Coalition has opposed this legislation, which will make sure businesses are required to advertise jobs locally before hiring an overseas worker on a 457 visa.

“Workers should be concerned that Tony Abbott has said that 457 visas will be a ‘mainstay’ of the immigration program if he is elected.”

Dave Oliver said the union movement had a strong record of supporting permanent skilled migration and accepted the need for 457 visas in some areas.

“In the long-term we need to focus on training young Australians rather than the quick-fix of importing workers.”

The ACTU has set up a Confidential Hotline – 1300 362 223 – for 457 visa holders who believe they are being exploited by their employers.

WHAT’S ON AUGUST 2013 ——— • ———

Appropriate Workplace Behaviour – 1 day 2 August Gymea 19 September Penrith Topics include why bullying occurs; anti-discrimination law and NSW Health policies; appropriate behaviour in the workplace; identifying unlawful harassment and bullying; what to do if subjected to unlawful harassment and bullying; how to use workplace grievance procedures; identifying, preventing and resolving bullying.

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ———

Practical, Positive Actions in Managing Stress and Burnout – 1 day 13 August Penrith

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ———

Practical, Positive Actions in Managing Conflict and Disagreement – 1 day 21 August Waterloo

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ———

Are you meeting your CPD requirements – ½ day 22 August, Albury Seminar suitable for all nurses and midwives.

Members $40 Non-members $85 ——— • ———

Legal and Professional Issues for Nurses and Midwives – ½ day

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MIDWIVES Contact Patricia Purcell on 02 8595 2139 or 0416 259 845 or email ppurcell@nswnma.asn.au for more information.

23 August Albury 29 August Port Macquarie 5 September Orange Topics include the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, potential liability, the importance of documentation, the role of disciplinary tribunals and writing statements.

Members $40 Non-members $85 ——— • ———

Basic Foot Care for RNs and ENs – 2 days 29 & 30 August Newcastle

Members $203 Non-members $350 ——— • ———

Computer Essentials for Nurses and Midwives – 1 day 25 September Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick Seminar suitable for all nurses and midwives.

Members $85 Non-members $170 ——— • ——— To register or for more information go to www.nswnma.asn.au/education or phone Matt West on 1300 367 962

*Circulation Audit Board actual figures 58,846. 30/09/2012

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 11

COVER STORY

A show of strength

About 3000 NSWNMA members rallied at Sydney Olympic Park, and another 2000 at 17 regional webcast venues, to send a message to the O’Farrell Government: improve and extend ratios.

SOME 5000 NURSES AND MIDWIVES FROM 180 New South Wales’ hospitals attended rallies held during a statewide strike on July 24, voting to escalate their campaign to improve and extend ratios.

Three thousand members massed at Sydney Olympic Park, where the meeting was streamed live to another 2000 members at regional venues.

A resolution, passed unanimously at the Special General Meeting, set out the next stages of the campaign: “Public health system nurses and midwives will escalate their community and workplace campaign to convince the NSW government that the nursing hours/ratios system should be extended to more clinical areas, and improved to guarantee the same minimum nursing levels in all hospitals in NSW. “Our campaign will continue with activities including: continued pressure on our MPs; building local community, professional and 12 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

public sector advocacy coalitions; bed closures and service restrictions where needed to ensure safe patient care; and standing together to uphold the correct implementation and maintenance of ratios in wards/units where they currently exist.

“The NSW government can prove its support for patients by giving NSWNMA an acceptable offer to improve and extend the award-based nursing hours/ratios system.”

A PIVOTAL MOMENT NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes told the meeting that the O’Farrell Government’s arrogance and intransigence had given nurses and midwives no option but to strike.

“After 11 fruitless meetings with your employer, the Ministry of Health, and their point blank refusal to extend ratios and negotiate for safe patient care, it’s come to this. Nurses and midwives are all committed to patient care. It’s our profession. It’s our

vocation. It’s the reason we chose this career in the first place,” he said.

“We never willingly walk away from our patients. But this state government has left us nowhere else to turn.”

Brett said the statewide strike was the culmination of months of action and was a pivotal moment, but members would have to brace themselves for a long campaign and government resistance.

“This campaign, like no other, is going to test our resolve and resilience. Our actions for patient safety to date have not gone unnoticed by this government,” he said.“Just check your pay slips in a few weeks when your pay increase comes through.

“They know how deeply nurses and midwives care about safe staffing levels, so they are trying to deflate our campaign by throwing some money at you and hoping you’ll go back to work and stop your campaigning.

“A lousy two-and-a-half per cent at that.

O’Farrell rejects umpire’s call

They must think we’re cheap to buy off. And just to add injury to insult, they then deducted a quarter of a per cent to force you to pay for the employer’s superannuation contribution.”

Brett acknowledged the need to accept the pay rise so nurses and midwives can pay their bills, but emphasised that the campaign wasn’t about money.

“We will accept the small pay rise because all pay rises are necessary to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table and to retain and attract the nurses and midwives of the future. But nurses have always cared for patients more than money. Our battle is to win the safest care we possibly can for our patients,” he said.

BACKED BY OTHER UNIONS AND PATIENTS Mark Lennon, secretary of Unions NSW, told the audience that other unions were proud of nurses and midwives and stood firm with them.

“Congratulations on the fantastic campaign over the past few months,” he said. “All of us in the union movement have admired it. I’m here to say one thing on behalf of the NSW union movement: we support you.”

He said the way the O’Farrell Government had treated nurses was consistent with the way they had treated all public sector workers.

“This government doesn’t believe in a decent industrial relations system. It doesn’t know how to behave as a decent employer. It doesn’t want to negotiate, it wants to dictate to its employees.

“Your fight is not just a fight for nurses, it is a fight for all working people in this state,” he said.

Other union leaders who attended the rally to show their support included Steve Turner, acting general secretary, Public Service Association; Denis Ravlich, executive officer, Australian Salaried Medical Officers; Peter Remfrey, secretary, and Scott Webber, president, Police Association; Alex Classens, Rail Tram and Bus Union;Tim Ayers secretary, AMWU; Rod Brown, Teachers’ Federation and Steve Robinson, ETU. Gwen Green, a member of the community, travelled all the way from the North Coast to add her support to the meeting.

“The professionalism of nurses in Grafton is superb. We need safety not just for patients but for nursing staff as well. Keep up the good work,” she said.

Liberals overturn Industrial Commission decision on superannuation.

Nurses and midwives will have to pay for superannuation increases out of their own wage packets after the New South Wales government overturned a ruling by the industrial umpire.

A 0.25% superannuation increase for all Australian workers came into force on July 1 under federal Labor government law.

However, the state government announced it would absorb the increased liability within its existing legislated 2.5% cap on all wage growth – effectively forcing 300,000 NSW public sector workers, including nurses, to fund their own superannuation increase.

Unions appealed to the Industrial Relations Commission, which ruled that workers were entitled to receive the 0.25 % superannuation as well as a pay rise of 2.5%.

Three days later, the O’Farrell Government simply introduced a newly drafted regulation to Parliament that explicitly included superannuation in the total 2.5% cap, overturning the court decision.

General Secretary of the NSWNMA Brett Holmes described the government’s action as a cynical abuse of process and yet another attack on the independence and authority of the industrial umpire.

“With this New South Wales government, even when workers win, they lose,” he said. “This is a dangerous precedent because as superannuation gradually shifts to 12% under national legislation, it should not be funded out of the wages of nurses and other public employees.

“It seems that whenever this state government sets out to save money it picks the pockets of public sector workers.

“The public sector wage cap of 2.5% is already too low without being further eroded to meet the government’s own superannuation obligations.”

“WITH THIS GOVERNMENT, EVEN WHEN WORKERS WIN THEY LOSE.” THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 13

COVER STORY

“I DON’T WANT TO SEE THE PROFESSION STRETCHED LIKE A RUBBER BAND.” “I’m here mainly to support nurses in regional areas.

Inadequate nurse-patient ratios really affect them because it’s harder to find the backup when things go wrong.

Births can go terribly wrong.

It can be touch and go as to whether a baby suffers irreversible damage and sometimes you have only a very small window of time to get babies as stable as possible. In these circumstances it’s vital to have adequate staff levels.

It was the right decision to go on strike today. I don’t want to see the profession stretched like a rubber band and break apart. I’ve been a nurse for nearly 20 years and it’s given me so much joy.

I want to make sure the new generation of nurses coming through has the same standards.”

Bonnie Fonti RN, neonatal intensive care unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

14 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

“THE COMMUNITY IS 100% BEHIND OUR CAMPAIGN.” “Today is all about patient safety. With the current 1-to-4 ratio we spend all our time running around trying to get our basic work done. A 1-to-3 ratio would give us the time we need to properly and safely care for patients – time to notice deterioration in patients, for example.

The community is 100% behind our campaign. We speak to them every day in the hospital and they can see first hand the difficult task nurses face.

The government is aware of the problem but they are trying to ignore it. That’s why we are here today. The government forced us into this strike and we won’t stop our campaign until the government wakes up and realises they need to do something.”

Robert Houston RN, emergency department, Blacktown Hospital

“THIS IS MY FIRST STRIKE.” “The main issue for me is equality between workplaces. Country hospitals deserve the same nurse-topatient ratios as we’ve won in big city hospitals. Workloads at John Hunter were pretty heavy going before we won the improved ratios. Now we have more time for patient care.

This is my first strike and it was a difficult decision for me to go on strike today. I felt I needed to support colleagues who don’t have the same staffing levels as me, and their patients as well.

Our patients understand why we are on strike today. The family of one of our patients put a message of support for us in the local Newcastle paper.”

Simon Lau RN, cardiology department, John Hunter Hospital

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 15

COVER STORY

“THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE IS VERY ARROGANT.” “We are here today to get a message out to the public that nurses are under pressure and we need these ratios desperately – mainly for their safety. We are showing the public that we are serious about this issue.

People are being discharged from hospital earlier in their recovery, which means community nurses have to pick up that extra workload.

Mrs Skinner talks about 4000 extra nurses but not one of those has been seen in community nursing.

As community nurses we go into people’s homes and all the time we get feedback that the public have seen our television advertisements and support us.

The government’s attitude is very arrogant. It won’t budge just because of today’s strike. This is the start of a long campaign and I’m sure all the community nurses at St George will support the campaign the whole way.”

Charles Lancaster RN, St George Hospital Community Nursing

16 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

“WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING UNTIL WE GET SAFETY FOR OUR PATIENTS.” “Staff levels are the main issue for me. In the sub-acute and acute waiting room areas you could be looking after 10 or more patients.

Staffing in the paediatric section is atrocious. It’s scary to work there especially in the mornings and at night.

You could be the only nurse on to look after 15 kids and deal with their families.

Patients often want to give us feedback about their condition but don’t feel they can interrupt us because they see how busy we are.

For the government it seems it’s all about money not the welfare of the patients. We have to keep the campaign going until we get safety for our patients.”

Sophie Jamieson RN, emergency department, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

“THE GENERAL FEELING IS OUTRAGE.” “The main issue is to get more nurses on the floor to look after patients. We don’t have time to provide proper care. We come home from work thinking about what we have missed and what we should have done but couldn’t, because of the heavy workload.

Patients and the community generally are aware of the problem. They are not happy with having to wait to get pain relief or go to the toilet because there’s not enough staff. They appreciate we are trying to do our best but our best is not always good enough because we simply don’t have the time.

I wholeheartedly support the strike today.

The general feeling among nurses I work with is outrage that we have to fight like this for patient safety. I don’t think the government is taking this seriously at all and we have to be prepared for a long campaign. I think we will have a big fight on our hands.”

Deborah Wells RN, medical ward, Maitland Hospital THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 17

COVER STORY

“I WANTED TO SHOW MY SUPPORT FOR ALL NURSES.” “I work in a transplant unit and our patients are quite acute, so we are lucky that we do get better staff-topatient ratios than other wards. However if we have sick calls they don’t necessarily get filled, and night shift has three nurses to 21 patients, all in single rooms. It doesn’t make you feel confident to do your job well when you don’t have enough support.

Other wards could have two nurses to 10 or 12 patients and nurses could be working with junior staff or agency staff that don’t know the ward and the patients. So it’s quite dangerous.

This is my first time on strike and I felt a little bit guilty leaving the morning staff short because my shift is not covered. But I wanted to show my support for all nurses and also to be able to go back and tell people I work with what is going on with our campaign.

I don’t feel I can trust the government. They want to take back some of our pay rise to pay for our superannuation – giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

If the government doesn’t see reason I would be prepared to take further action; otherwise we won’t see any improvements. We have to let the government know we’re not just going to sit here and take it.”

Monica Northrop RN, Royal North Shore Hospital

18 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

“WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION UNTIL THINGS CHANGE.” “Ratios in the ED are not safe for nurses and the patients we are caring for, and we’ve come here today to try to change that. If it doesn’t improve we will continue to have adverse outcomes for patients. And staff will keep on getting burnt out and suffer stress because they are forced to look after more patients than is safe.

All the nurses I work with are in support of improved ratios because it affects everyone in ED. We will have to keep taking action until things change.

As nurses at the front line, working with patients under these conditions, we are advocates for the patients while the government often comes at it from a different angle with different priorities. Hopefully we can find some middle ground, come to an agreement with the government and get safer care for patients.”

Anna McNarn RN, emergency department, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 19

COVER STORY

Empowered by community support for ratios Tamworth members were empowered by the response they received from the community to their message that rural patients and nurses deserve ratios.

“The public response was empowering.”

Front Row: Max Kettle, Jill Telfer, Jodie Gream, Matt Cartan. Standing: Gerard Jeffery.

RN JODIE GREAM OCCASIONALLY STOPS at a couple of the tiny townships along the New England Highway during the long drive from her home in Tamworth to Sydney.

When she decided to visit them all on her last trip, to spread the message about the need for nurse-to-patient ratios in country hospitals, she was overwhelmed by the reaction.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity to distribute our petitions to communities along the highway. The response was wonderful – most people were keen to give support,” she said.“A common response was, ‘We see how busy the local nurses are, we know you guys care about what you do, and we’ll get behind you’.”

Jodie stopped at every settlement between Tamworth and Singleton, calling in at pubs, general stores and visitor information centres.

So many people wanted to talk about the issue that the normal six-hour journey took 10 hours.

At Murrurundi, the staff at the information centre photocopied 50 petition 20 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

sheets. Tiny Wallabadah, population 229, gathered 120 signatures. Jodie collected some of the signed petitions three days later on her drive home to Tamworth. She asked local branches of the NSWNMA to pick up from those communities she did not have time to revisit. The tally was around 1200 signatures.

The union branch at Tamworth Hospital has formed a committee to organise their campaign to improve ratios.

Acting branch secretary Jill Telfer said the committee mapped the hospital to identify activists in each ward who could be asked to assist.

The committee also drew up a list of members of the public who had offered support, including 20 business owners who offered to display petitions on their premises.

Jill said she and another nurse got 100% support when they walked from shop to shop to ask businesses to back the nurses.

“Quite a few people were aware of the issue because of the union’s TV advertisements, which have had a good effect.”

Jill said the petition process had boosted the number of nurses engaged in the campaign.

“We need many more nurses involved so we can get more people in the community involved and onside, which we think will be the key to winning this campaign.

“We need to come up with ideas for actions that deliver quick results in the short term, so that more people will be encouraged to get involved.”

Branch president Matthew Cartan organised a table at Big W, staffed by eight nurses over six hours. Jodie Gream said 745 people signed petitions on the day.

“We weren’t allowed to tout for signatures inside the shopping centre, people had to approach our table,” Jodie said. “At first people thought we were after money and avoided us, so we bought some art paper and made signs explaining what we were doing.

“After that the community responded beautifully. I wish every nurse could have been at Big W because the public response was empowering.

“I’m really glad the union is giving country nurses the opportunity to be heard.

“There are about 600 union members at Tamworth Hospital and if every one of us collected just 24 signatures we would have 14,400 messages of support to show the politicians in Sydney.”

Time poor and barely coping New research conducted among community nurses by the NSWNMA suggests community health services are struggling to cope, and government strategies to deliver savings in public hospitals will exacerbate the problem.

What surveyed nurses had to say: “I am always behind. If I had to provide a service for all my clients on one day plus do other duties I might get 15 minutes per client.”

(Mental Health Nurse).

“The amount of data entry that is required means you can rarely complete three universal home visits in a day. (Child and Family Health Nurse).

“We are drowning out here, morale is very low as work is chronically understaffed with unbelievable and unrealistic workloads.” (Child and Family Health Nurse).

“We are concerned that community health is being strained by early discharge policies of hospitals, but no one is measuring this.”

(Community Health Nurse).

THE POPULATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES IS predicted to grow by 25% by 2031. With an ageing population and government health strategies trending to an earlier discharge from public hospitals, the state’s demand for community nursing, particularly in primary health and chronic care is expected to skyrocket.

Research conducted by the NSWNMA suggests the current community health practice environment is ill equipped to cope.

In a substantive survey of almost 400 community health nurses, 70% of respondents disagreed with the statement “the service would be able to cope with an increase in clients without additional staff ”.

For many, patient care is already going backwards with current resources.

Thirty-six percent of survey respondents thought the quality of care had deteriorated, while 50% said there was no improvement.

The study reveals that community nurses and midwives are carrying large caseloads, with negative consequences for patient care.

Over half of respondents thought that increasing requirements of administration and documentation constrained the time available for client care. Travel time was seen as an additional pressure.

Factors such as travel time, administration demands and lack of replacement staff, produce an environment where the care needs of an appropriate number of patients cannot be met.

In order to cope with workload demands community nurses and midwives are working unpaid overtime, suggesting a system that is under stress.

“The biggest issue is relief for annual leave, sick leave or long service leave and recruitment and retention of nursing staff to the country,” said one rural general community health nurse.

A day in the life One surveyed nurse eloquently described a typical day in which KPIs (key performance indicators) took priority over delivering safe patient care: “It may take 1.5 hours minimum to assess a family, complete the Edinburgh post natal depression scale, go through all the safe start questions in a sensitive respectful way, assess the baby, do the 1 to 4 week child health check and attend to assisting the infant feeding, answer any questions the parents may have and introduce them to their local Early Childhood Service.

“Then there is often at least an hour or so of data entry afterwards. Not to mention driving times. It is no wonder we find it hard to complete three babies in a day.

“We also have to eat during the day and find toilets etc. while we are out. The people up in the clouds making all the decisions all day have no idea!”

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 21

CAMPAIGNING

ISEE

RED

ISEE

RED

I SEE

RED! Monday July 1 was a day to See Red over the O’Farrell Government’s refusal to improve and extend ratios.

Nurses and midwives at state public hospitals and community health services wore red to work in protest at the government’s inaction.

Nurses arrived for their shifts wearing red t-shirts, smocks, stockings, ribbons, armbands, lipstick – and even the occasional red turban.

Union branches organised community rallies to collect petition signatures in support of improved ratios.

President of the NSWNMA Ryde Hospital branch, Ciaran McCloughan, said his members held a rally outside the office of their local MP “to show our dissatisfaction with the government.”

Michelle Callard, president of the NSWNMA’s Macarthur branch said: “I hope See Red Day sent a united and strong message to the O’Farrell Government so that patients get the correct and safe care by adequately staffing the wards.”

President of the Mona Vale hospital branch, Robyn Brown said: “We need more, qualified staff but our award expired on 30 June with no firm offer of improvement in the ratios.”

Nurses attended a Community Cabinet meeting in Penrith wearing red. Nepean branch vice-president Kerry Rodgers criticised the government’s unequal treatment of hospitals, which she called “discrimination based on postcode” and urged Health Minister Jillian Skinner to listen to the views and experiences of nurses and midwives.

22 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 23

NDIS

DisabilityCare open for business The Hunter region was the launch site for the national rollout of Labor’s historic reform to disability services.

For the first time Australians with disabilities are getting the funding and authority to choose the support they need, and how that support is delivered, with the launch of DisabilityCare.

DisabilityCare, the national disability insurance scheme, opened for business in four launch sites across the country, including Newcastle in New South Wales, last month.

By July 2019, when the scheme is scheduled to be available across the nation, about 460,000 Australians with disabilities will be benefiting.

The federal Labour government’s 201324 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

“The launch sites will provide a strong foundation for the national roll-out.”

— Federal Minister for Disability Reform, Jenny Macklin

14 budget provided $14.3 billion over seven years, on top of existing disability funding, to extend DisabilityCare nationally.

The scheme is to be paid for by increasing the Medicare levy by 0.5 percentage points.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd received a warm welcome in Newcastle when he opened the local Disability Care office.

He said around 10,000 people are expected to benefit from the NSW launch, which will gradually cover the Hunter region during the next three years.

The federal Minister for Disability

Fairer for all families A mother of a teenager with Down Syndrome says Disability Care will help her access the services she really needs.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with Wendy Evans at the launch of DisabilityCare in Newcastle

Reform, Jenny Macklin, said introducing DisabilityCare in stages “will help us make sure we get this important reform right, so that people with disability receive the right services for their individual needs.

The launch sites will provide us with a strong foundation for the national rollout.”

She said DisabilityCare would work with individuals to identify their goals and support needs, develop individual plans, consider the supports needed to strengthen caring arrangements, and connect people to service providers and community support.

MIDWIFE DEBBIE LAWSON HOPES THE introduction of DisabilityCare will allow her 13-year-old daughter Olivia, who has Down Syndrome, to access services tailored to her individual needs.

“DisabilityCare is about putting power into hands of families, allowing them to spend money to buy the services they really need,” she says.

Debbie commutes 40 kilometres to work at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital, from her home at Lake Macquarie where DisabilityCare will be rolled out in 2014.

“We have been to seminars outlining the scheme and we’re quite excited about what it might mean for us,” she says. “We’re really hoping it will allow us to access services tailored to Olivia’s individual needs, rather than the ‘one size fits all’ approach currently on offer from service providers.”

Olivia started high school in a special education class this year and also attends an after-school care centre 40km away.

Debbie is struggling to get Olivia to and from school and the care centre while also meeting her work commitments.

“I’ve been nursing for 30 years and I’d hate to have to stop now because I can’t get Olivia to and from school.

“Hopefully DisabilityCare will give us the means to engage a carer to come to our home in the mornings, get Olivia ready, take her to school and bring her home at the end of the day.

“At present the limited government funding that is available, goes to service providers rather than direct to the families. Finding someone to provide the particular service you need, can be a very frustrating process.

“I approached a number of service providers who said they had already spent their allocated funding for that type of care, or their service didn’t provide that particular care, or they only provided care for children with autism or cerebral palsy, for example.

“One provider asked me to fill out a 10-page application form then said my

NSWNMA member Debbie Lawson with daughter Olivia.

“I’ve been nursing for 30 years and I’d hate to have to stop now.” request did not fit within their service guidelines.”

Debbie says the current system disadvantages families in rural and regional areas because many special needs services are concentrated in Sydney.

“DisabilityCare will be fairer and more equitable for all families regardless of where they live.”

She hopes DisabilityCare will allow her to fund weekly speech pathology for Olivia and dental work on her palate.

“Currently we only get a small number of speech pathology sessions under Medicare, which means big out of pocket expenses.

“There is no scope for dental work other than a long wait for special needs dentistry at a big Sydney hospital like Westmead. Under DisabilityCare I could pay the local dentist for Olivia’s treatment.”

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 25

NDIS

New deal, new direction Meeting the unique needs of the individual is the guiding principle behind DisabilityCare.

“It’s going to make an incredible difference to the lives of a whole lot of people.”

26 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY NURSE GARY Dunne believes DisabilityCare will improve the lives of many Australians who often miss out on the services they need.

“Once it rolls out it’s going to make an incredible difference to the lives of a whole lot of people,” said Gary, who nurses at ADHC’s Summer Hill centre in Sydney.

“Disability care is going in the direction of individual packages and people deciding for themselves what care to access, and how.

“It’s an exciting time to be in disability nursing. I think in 10 years time we will look back and say,‘that was a huge change’.”

Gary suspects the scheme will not have a big impact on most Summer Hill clients because many are chronically disabled with life-threatening illnesses.

“The choices for most of our clients are a lot more limited and the amount of daily care they need restricts what they can do.

“But even our clients now have more opportunity to access the activities they are interested in than they used to.”

Gary says it is hard to predict how the introduction of DisabilityCare will affect disability nursing.

“No one really knows how it’s going to impact the work we do or the career path for disability nurses.

“There will be a growing number of people with disabilities and complex health issues and a significant number will need specialist nurses to assist them to continue to function at their best and lead quality lives.”

One of Gary’s clients, 19-year-old Ken Adderley, was born with severe physical and intellectual disabilities and has chronic medical problems.

Ken’s mother Melinda welcomes the introduction of DisabilityCare because it has put disabilities on the public and political agenda.

“I don’t know how DisabilityCare will work or how it will impact on Ken, but it’s fantastic that people are now talking about disability services,” Melinda said.

“I think we have become less community-minded and DisabilityCare gets us back to thinking about other people in a broader context than our own families.”

She said she would not want to see any change to the “exceptional” level of nursing care Ken receives at Summer Hill.

“The Summer Hill nurses have done an absolutely amazing job of meeting Ken’s needs and he has a community program built around his interests, such as music and football.

“He gets the highest level of funds available and we already self manage his money and make decisions about what he will be doing.”

Melinda said DisabilityCare might improve access to some subsidised services such as wheelchairs.

“Under the current system, if Ken needs a new wheelchair he has to apply somewhere else for the funding. That agency has to make a decision about what sort of chair Ken needs and is entitled to.

“As a result he stayed in a wheelchair that didn’t suit him for a long time because he didn’t quite fall into the category of desperately needing a new chair.

“Hopefully DisabilityCare will give us more flexibility and choice in accessing these sorts of services.”

AGED CARE

Aged care nurses vote on pay increase Labor’s aged care reforms passed through federal Parliament in late June, clearing the way for aged care staff to receive supplementary wage increases worth $1.2 billion.

Domain Principal Group is the first provider to negotiate an enterprise agreement including the higher pay rates.

AGED CARE NURSES AT DOMAIN PRINCIPAL Group (DPG) will be among the first to get wage increases under the federal Labor government’s Workforce Supplement.

The NSWNMA was on the point of reaching enterprise agreements with DPG and other aged care providers as The Lamp went to press.

DPG nurses at 28 nursing homes in NSW were voting on their agreement in a secret ballot at press time.

Aged care workers must be covered by an enterprise agreement in order to be eligible for the Workforce Supplement, which pays an additional annual wage increase on top of any increase paid by the employer. Employer-funded increases cannot be less than 2.75% per year.

The additional government-funded increases are: 1 July 2013 – 1% 1 July 2014 – 1% 1 July 2015 – 1% 1 July 2016 – 0.5% NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes said DPG had negotiated a new, three-year enterprise agreement including wage increases of 2.75% plus the 1% Workforce Supplement on 1 July 2013, 1 July 2014 and 1 July 2015.

Brett said if a new federal government decided to withdraw the Workforce Supplement funding after the first year, DPG had agreed to fund a 3% increase in the second and third years of the agreement.

The NSWNMA delegate at DPG’s Bathurst nursing home, Desiree Pearson, said nurses were pleased to have gained a fair pay rise without having had to trade off any conditions.

“The new agreement should help us to retain staff because it puts us closer to public hospital pay rates,” Desiree said.

“The Workforce Supplement is a great

“We hope the DPG agreement will demonstrate that other aged care providers should follow suit.”

— Brett Holmes

initiative from the federal government and we are happy that DPG is the first employer in NSW to sign up to it.”

DPG managing director Gary Barnier wrote in the company gazette: “We believe

the reform package will deliver good care outcomes and choice of accommodation to consumers, whilst ensuring the viability of providers.”

NSWNMA and Uniting Care which operates more than 50 nursing homes in NSW are negotiating a one-year agreement including a wage increase of 2.75% plus the 1% Workforce Supplement backdated to 1 July 2013.

An NSWNMA officer and local nurses have been negotiating the new Uniting Care enterprise agreement.

Ian Walker, an Assistant in Nursing at Uniting Care’s Caroona Marima facility at Goonellabah on the NSW north coast, represented local NSWNMA members in negotiations with Uniting Care.

Ian said negotiations had gone well and had met with a generally positive response from NSWNMA members on the north coast.

“The Workforce Supplement is a welcome step from the government – it’s the right way to go,” he said.

“If we get all four increases paid to 2016 it will be a better outcome for aged care staff everywhere.”

Brett Holmes said some aged care employer organisations continue to oppose the new model of government funding and are delaying negotiations on applying the Workforce Supplement.

He called on employer groups not to stand in the way of $1.2 billion in government funding for higher wages, better training and more rewarding career pathways.

“We hope the DPG agreement will demonstrate that other aged care providers should follow suit.

“I think they are hoping an Abbott-led government would remove the requirement to tie funding to wages,” he said.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 27

NURSES AND MIDWIVES IT’S IMPORT IMPORTANT ORT TANT A TO TO NOTE NOTE You Y ou o must be a

FINANCIAL MEMBER of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to ensure your entitlement to

2 2 2

ALL ASSOCIATION ASSOCIAATTION SERV SERVICES ACCIDENT JOURNEY INSURANCE PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE

All these services are only available to members who are financial members.

Make sure your membership remains financial by switching from payroll deductions to Direct Debit.

UNSURE IF YOU ARE FINANCIAL? It’s It’s easy! Ring and check today on 8595 1234 (metro) or 1300 367 962 (rural).

Download, complete and return your Direct Debit form to the Association.

www.nswnma.asn.au www ww w.nswnma.asn.au .nswnma.a .

Authorised by B.Holmes, General Secretary, NSWNMA SW

ASK JUDITH CPD recap I know the Association has previously provided information about Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for registration with the Australian Health Professional Registration Authority (AHPRA). Would you please provide a recap to assist with my application to renew my registration?

In June 2010 national legislation was brought into effect requiring RNs and ENs to produce evidence that they have been maintaining their level of knowledge and competence. The requirement under this legislation asked that the evidence be calculated in hours of learning over the preceding 12 months. All nurses and midwives must meet CPD standards. These standards set out the minimum requirements for CPD and all CPD must be directly relevant to the nurses and midwife’s context of practice. These standards apply to registered and enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners, registered midwives and eligible midwives. They do not apply to students or nurses and midwives who have non-practicing registration.

For those nurses and midwives who hold dual registration, and wish to maintain registration in both, the requirements are for 20 hours CPD for each discipline.

That is, 20 hours for nursing and 20 hours for midwifery. If the CPD activity undertaken is relevant to both nursing and midwifery practice then these may be counted in each professional portfolio. For nurses or midwives who hold scheduled medicines endorsements, such as endorsement as a nurse practitioner or eligible midwife, the national law requires them to complete an additional 10 hours of CPD per year related to their endorsement. One hour of active learning is equal to one hour of CPD.

Nurses and midwives are responsible for keeping and calculating records of CPD hours, the records kept should include dates, a brief description of the activity undertaken and the outcomes as well as the hours spent in each activity.

Because AHPRA is responsible for monitoring the competence of nurses and midwives, they will conduct random annual audits on a number of registered nurses, registered midwives and enrolled nurses.

It is important to emphasise that all nurses and midwives are required to meet the CPD requirements each year. This is particularly relevant to those nurses and midwives who take extended leave such as maternity, long service or workers’ compensation that are not exempt during the period of leave.

Performance management plan I am a nurse working in the public health system and have had issues in relation to various aspects of my clinical practice. My employer wants me to participate in a performance management plan. Do I have to participate and what is a performance management plan?

Yes you are required to participate in any performance management process that management directs you to take part in. I refer you to the NSW Ministry of Health policy directive, PD2005_180 Performance Managing for a Better Practice Approach for NSW Health.

Performance management plans are a tool used by managers when they have concerns around the safe practice of a nurse or midwife; they are not a disciplinary tool and should not be used as such. The first step is to identify the problem(s) allegedly affecting the employee in question, then management

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

should discuss these with the employee.

The aim of a performance management plan is to assist the employee, in a nonthreatening way, to overcome identified deficits in their practice.

The plan should be developed by the manager and the employee concerned as well as any person who will be required to take on a supervisory role during the lifetime of the plan, such as Nurse Educators, CNC, CNS or CNE. The plan should detail the duration of the plan, the responsible parties for assessing and signing off on each stage of the plan, and details of the aims and objectives to be met, and by whom.

There should be someone identified as the support person to give the employee the ability to discuss any concerns that arise during the process and ensure the plan is on track. It may be necessary for the employee to work in another area during the life of the plan.

Wet weather protection I am a community nurse working in the public sector. Is there any requirement for my hospital/LHD to provide me with protective clothing to use in wet weather?

Yes, the Public Health System Nurses’ and Midwives’ (State) Award 2011 has provision for the supplying of wet weather apparel, clause 23, uniform and laundry allowances, sub clause (vi) states as follows; “Each employee whose duties regularly require them to work out of doors shall be supplied with a suitable waterproof coat, hat and overboots. Sufficient waterproof clothing shall be made available for use by other employees who in the course of their duties are exposed to wet weather.”

MAKING THE MOST OF CHANGE:

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conventionhouse.com.au/nswrural conventionhouse. com.au/nswrural THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 29

IR

Nurse union faces tough time under Lib-Nats The Liberal National Party government in Queensland has placed unprecedented restrictions on the Queensland Nurses Union’s (QNU) right of entry to hospitals, and the rights of its members to attend union meetings, conferences and training.

IN ITS LATEST IN A RAFT OF ANTI-UNION legislation, the Newman Government has also removed, from all Queensland unions, the right to freedom of political communication. The QNU will join other unions in a High Court challenge to the amendments, introduced by the Queensland Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie, to the Industrial Relations Act, which compel unions to run a full membership referendum before spending more than $10,000 on a political campaign Queensland Council of Unions President John Battams said the case would outline how the LNP legislation denied union members a fair voice in the political process.

“Unions have had the courage to stand up to the Newman Government and hold them to account for their record of broken promises and their electorally unpopular plan for privatisation,” Mr Battams said.

“Now unions are being singled out for special treatment.”

In other legislation, QNU officials can only be in the workplace at the invitation of management for the purpose of participating in management-convened meetings, or after giving 24-hours written notice of entry into a workplace to hold discussions with a union member, or an employee who is eligible to be a union member.

30 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

“Unions have had the courage to stand up to the Newman Government and hold them to account for their record of broken promises…”

— Queensland Council of Unions President John Battam

In this case an employer may give the union official written notice about where entry to the workplace can occur.

Employees are no longer entitled to attend training, conferences or other union activities during work time, or attend workplace union meetings in work time.

Queensland Health premises can no longer be used for union meetings; there will be no industrial relations education leave and no special leave without pay to undertake work with a relevant union.

Hospital administrators will no longer have to allow union information to be made available in the workplace and officials or delegates will not have to be given time during orientation programs to discuss union membership with new employees.

An authorised industrial officer must give at least 24 hours written notice of entry into a workplace to inspect time and wages records.

An overpayment may now be deducted from an employee’s final payment. For the purpose of recovering overpayments, an employee is taken to have ceased employment regardless of whether they begin new employment or resume previous employment as a health employee.

There is no longer a specific requirement for written consent in relation to recovery of overpaid wages.

Abbott’s road to WorkChoices V2 The Liberal leader wants to put individual contracts right back at the heart of the industrial relations system.

“If Tony Abbott has changes he wants the Productivity Commission to look at, why doesn’t he tell us what they are?”

—ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver

A NXIOUS TO AVOID THE STIGMA OF WorkChoices in the run-up to the federal election, Tony Abbott announced a cautious, “small target” industrial relations policy.

The new policy is silent on issues that were central to the Liberals’ discredited WorkChoices program, and which remain dear to the hearts and wallets of the Liberal Party’s corporate sponsors.

These include abolition of penalty rates, use of individual contracts to replace collective bargaining, elimination of unfair dismissal claims and tougher restrictions on the right to take industrial action.

Business lobby groups, such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have criticised the new Liberal policy as too soft.

The head of the Australian Retailers’ Association, Russell Zimmerman, asked why employers should wait four more years for “employment regulation reforms”.

He was referring to the Liberal policy promise to hold a Productivity Commission inquiry into industrial relations, and to act on its recommendations, but only after the subsequent election.

The ACTU warns that the inquiry will be Tony Abbott’s pathway to WorkChoices Version 2.

ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver called on Mr Abbott to release the terms of reference for the Productivity Commission inquiry, so workers know what rights could be at risk under an Abbott Government.

“The Productivity Commission has a long track record of recommending cuts to penalty rates and the wider use of individual contracts, and any inquiry will be dominated by the voices of business groups,” Mr Oliver said.

ACTU President Ged Kearney, a former nurse, said Mr Abbott had failed to outline the Coalition’s long-term agenda for industrial relations.

“All we know is that there will be a

Productivity Commission inquiry into further changes. If Tony Abbott has changes he wants the Productivity Commission to look at, why doesn’t he tell us what they are?” she asked. “We know that prior to the 2004 election there was no mention of WorkChoices and its attack on pay and conditions. The current policy announcement should be treated with the same suspicion.”

The Liberal’s industrial relations policy included a measure to expand the use of Individual Flexibility Agreements between a single employee and their employer.

These enhanced flexibility agreements will be allowed to override collectivelynegotiated agreements so that an individual worker can “negotiate” with their boss “on conditions that are suitable to their individual needs” as the policy puts it.

The ACTU called this an attempt to return individual contracts to the heart of the IR system.

Ged Kearney says employees do not want to see a return to WorkChoices-style individual agreements, regardless of what Mr Abbott wants to call them.

“Allowing Individual Flexibility Agreements to override negotiated agreements opens the door to employers using them to drive down conditions and entitlements that workers have fought for,” she said.

She said there was nothing in the Liberals’ IR policy to help employees balance work and family life, which would improve conditions for low-paid workers, or tackle the issue of insecure work.

“The Coalition has refused to recognise that insecure work is a major issue for Australian workers and that one-in-four workers has no access to sick leave, annual leave or carers’ leave.

“Mr Abbott is yet to commit to supporting the federal Labor Government’s bid to enshrine penalty rates in law. This will be a bigger test of his real views on IR than his policy launch.”

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 31

QLD HEALTH

Queensland first: the rest to follow The Queensland public health system, once the envy of all Australian states has been hit by closures and job losses.

Queensland Health workers protest against rising cuts and job losses.

CLOSE TO 4000 QUEENSLAND HEALTH workers, including nearly 1000 nurses and midwives, have been sacked as the LiberalNational party government in Queensland has laid the groundwork for private operators to move in to the pubic health system.

Announcing plans for delivery of a large range of health services through public, private and not-for-profit health providers and partnerships, Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said there was potential for private sector involvement in building new elective surgery centres to clear waiting lists, separating elective surgery from emergency surgery procedures at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, and for 32 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

private sector involvement in the Gold Coast University Hospital for the provision of radiation oncology services.

There are many examples of how frontline cuts have been disastrous for patients.

After the closure of the Wynnum Hospital 24-hour emergency centre, staff members were told not to allow entry to patients arriving after 10pm, even in a lifethreatening situation. Instead they should administer basic life support at the front door. A blanket and pillow were available in the staff dining room if required.

In June it was reported that a new paediatric emergency department at Redland Hospital on Brisbane’s bayside had

been vacant and without staff for nine months. Minister Springborg denied it had been a waste of resources.

Instead, he told the local paper, there could be further cuts at Redland and, he said, Gold Coast hospitals planned to reduce supplies of bandages. Also the state would no longer supply hospital pyjamas for public patients.

Professor Paul Thomas, chairman of the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Board, has said: “There is a very strong view that private is the answer. I’m worried at the momentum of that thinking. A private business functions for its shareholders for a profit.”

Private profit: taxpayer loss

Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg recently told critics to “get on the train or get under it.” Perhaps an insight into the attitude and behaviour of governments that win a majority of lower house seats and have no upper house to apply the brakes.

The mixing of private and public patient offerings raises questions about conflicts of interest, with public services being reduced to protect the revenue bases of private operations.

Acting secretary of the Queensland Nurses Union, Des Elder, says the conduct of the Uniting Church’s Wesley Hospital, in particular in relation to the death of a patient from Legionnaires disease in 2011, raises serious questions about the regulation of private hospitals, as well as the state government’s policy of giving them greater access to government funding for the provision of public hospital services.

In June, following confirmation that another man had died and a woman had contracted legionnaires in the Wesley Hospital, the state government ordered tests of all public hospitals.

At time of writing the bacteria had been found in 17 hospitals and this number was expected to rise.

The Wesley Hospital not only failed to report the death in 2011 but, when asked by the media about the subsequent legionella infections, it first denied the 2011 death, then claimed the initial fatal infection may have occurred elsewhere, then said “it was not in the public interest” to report it.

“Accountability and transparency are vital features of a safe hospital and healthcare system,” Des Elder said.“Unfortunately, these two essential components are in short supply in the private sector. Governments and the media have treated private health and aged care operators with kid gloves for too long, and it is time for that approach to stop. Patient safety depends on it.”

“Accountability and transparency are vital features of a safe hospital and healthcare system.”

—Des Elder

The use of tax havens by private health operators – including a subsidiary of an Australian health operator – has raised concerns in the UK. The economic rationale for privatisation of health services has been questioned in Britain where outsourcing of National Health Service (NHS) services has been profitable for major private operators, but with questions about the ultimate financial benefit to taxpayers.

Corporate Watch, a UK based, independent journalism and research group, has questioned the use of tax havens and complex internal borrowings to reduce the tax liabilities of five UK operators. It says Spire, Care UK, General Healthcare Group and Ramsay UK, a subsidiary of Australia’s Ramsay Health Care, are all carrying significant levels of debt, after their owners financed their acquisitions through borrowing.

The interest being paid to banks and bondholders – which is far higher than the government would be paying for equivalent sums – is also serving to reduce taxable profits.

While the companies say they are acting within the law, Corporate Watch points out that “… being legal is not the same thing as being right, and the government’s promises that companies can be regulated into doing a good job for the NHS are further undermined with evidence of how easily they are getting round the tax obligations that should help pay for it.”

Ramsay Health Care in the UK has 22 hospitals with almost 70% of its work coming from the NHS. It is a subsidiary of Ramsay Health Care Group, Australia’s biggest private hospital operator, which in February announced a first half core net profit of $148.2 million, up 12.3% on revenue of $2.1billion.

Ramsay Health Care owns and operates 120 hospitals and day care facilities across Australia, the United Kingdom, France and Indonesia.

Ramsay will open a 200-bed Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital in Queensland in December, adjacent to the Sunshine Coast University Public Hospital. Local medicos believe Ramsay will win the contract to operate clinical services at the public hospital.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 33

GLOBAL NURSES UNITED

Going global on our ratios campaign The next steps in our campaign to improve and extend ratios will include international action with the support of overseas nurse unions, says NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary Judith Kiejda.

IMPROVING RATIOS AND PROTECTING PUBLIC HEALTH are top of the agenda for a new grouping of international unions representing nurses from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea and the United States: Global Nurses United.

Formed in June, Global Nurses United will throw its support behind nurses and midwives in NSW with a global action on September 17.

“The NSWNMA now has the support of Global Nurses United as we campaign to have safer nurseto-patient ratios extended throughout New South Wales public hospitals and community health services,” Judith said.

She said the coordinated action with Global Nurses United would be the first in a raft of actions to take our campaign up to the O’Farrell Government.

“We have two choices: we can wring our hands and complain or we can nail our colours to the mast and say ‘enough is enough’ Barry O’Farrell – we are not going to accept your arrogant and dictatorial behavior.

“Strike action will not be enough turn this government around. It is happy to sit it out, thinking they will let us make some noise, go back to work, and then they’ll continue to run the health system on the backs of nurses and midwives.

“We have developed a list of actions to progress this fight.You may think these actions are not strong enough and won’t deliver results quickly enough, but each one of your actions will add to the cumulative pressure.

Judith says it is critical that each unit and ward in the public health system has a contact person in touch with the Association.

“We no longer have the workplace access we once had, so we need each ward to be connected to us so we can get information about the next action to you. Make sure your organiser knows who that person is.”

34 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

Things you can do • Participate in the global action on September 17 • Collect signatures on our petition • Tell us your stories – we want to know about ambulances banked up outside your RDs or about days when you are starved of resources • Sign the commitment card and pledge to involvement in our campaign • Lobby your local politician • Write to your local paper or get onto talkback radio • Follow our campaign on the NSWNMA website, Facebook and Twitter and see what we are doing next • Talk about your issues on Nurse Uncut

COST OF HEALTH

When baby breaks the bank Living in the United States and want to have a baby? That will be $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a caesarean, thank you very much.

ACCORDING TO ANALYSIS DONE BY Truven Health Analytics for the New York Times “childbirth in the United States is uniquely expensive … with the cumulative costs of approximately four million annual births well over $500 billion”.

The study found that from 2004 to 2010 the price insurers paid for childbirth rose 49% for vaginal births and 41% for caesarean sections. Out-of-pocket costs rose four fold.

The average priced charged for pregnancy and newborn care was about $30,000 for a vaginal delivery and $50,000 for a caesarian.

Women with insurance pay out-ofpocket an average of $3400 according to another survey by Childbirth Connection, a US not-for-profit organisation.

These costs are staggering when compared with similar developed nations. A normal vaginal delivery costs $4000 or less in Switzerland, France and the Netherlands due to regulation and price setting. In these countries mothers pay little of that cost.

The NY Times pointed out that even though costs are much less in these countries “new mothers in France and elsewhere often remain in the hospital for nearly a week to heal and to learn how to breastfeed, while American women tend to be discharged a day or two after birth, since insurers do not pay costs for anything that is not considered medically necessary.”

Despite this massive expenditure, the United States has one of the highest rates of both infant and maternal mortality among advanced economies.

Research published in 2000 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, comparing health outcomes in 13 developed nations, ranked the United States:

• 13th (last) for low birth weight percentages.

• 13th for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall.

• 11th for post-neonatal mortality.

A key reason for the astronomical costs in the US is the predominance of obstetricians over midwives. Costs in other developed countries are lower because of the extensive use of midwives who perform the bulk of prenatal examinations and simple deliveries. Obstetricians are there when there is risk or need.

In Britain, 68% of births are attended by a midwife and in the Netherlands 45%, compared with 8% in the United States.

The “medicalised” deliveries by obstetricians, with their plethora of IVs, anaesthesia and expensive ultrasounds, make American births the most expensive in the world.

Pregnancy is billed item by item with separate fees for the delivery room, the birthing tub and each night in a hospital room.

“It’s amazing how much patients buy into our tendency to do a lot of tests.We’ve met the problem and it is us,” said Professor Eugene Declercq from Boston University.

“We’ve created more incentives that encourage more expensive care, rather than care that is good for the mother,” said Maureen Corry, executive director of Childbirth Connection.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 35

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WHAT’S

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NURSE UNCUT

THIS MONTH

A BLOG FOR AUSTRALIAN NURSES AND MIDWIVES www.nurseuncut.com.au

Sign up for the weekly email that alerts you to new posts.

Nurse Uncut is also on Facebook: www.facebook.com/NurseUncutAustralia. And on Twitter @nurseuncut

Looking back – a love of nursing www.nurseuncut.com.au/looking-back-a-love-of-nursing/

Marji, 84, a former nurse and midwife, wrote down her thoughts on nursing, a profession she still loves.

Coffs Coast midwife tours South Africa www.nurseuncut.com.au/a-coffs-coast-midwife-tours-south-africa/

Donna-Lee Houghton, a Coffs Harbour midwife, went on a life-changing midwifery study tour of South Africa.

Protection from discrimination in aged care www.nurseuncut.com.au/protection-from-discrimination-in-aged-care

Stella Topaz considers a new law that protects lesbian, gay, transgender and intersex residents in aged care – but do nursing staff members have the same protection?

A philosophy of palliative care nursing www.nurseuncut.com.au/a-philosophy-of-palliative-care-nursing-part-1

Mark Downey outlines the philosophy he developed when working with the dying as a community nurse.

Mental health care for generalist nurses www.nurseuncut.com.au/mental-health-care-for-generalist-nurses-an-esimulation-resource/

Two Sydney CNCs have developed an online e-simulation resource for generalist nurses confronted by mental health issues.

Sexual health competencies for primary healthcare nurses www.nurseuncut.com.au/sexual-health-competencies-for-primary-healthcare-nurses/

Ros Rolleston, a rural primary health nurse, set out to increase STI screening uptake in her GP practice.

Ethics in critical care www.nurseuncut.com.au/ethics-in-critical-care

Critical care nurse Carla Burgess looks at the many ethical dilemmas faced by staff members.

A sombre anniversary www.nurseuncut.com.au/a-sombre-anniversary

A short video of nurse Emily Orchard speaking at the one-year anniversary of cuts to workers compensation benefits in New South Wales.

ONLINE

nsw nurses & midwives

@nurseuncut

Follow us on Twitter >> NSWNurses & Midwives @nswnma Watch us on YouTube >> SupportNurses Connect with us on Facebook New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association >> www.facebook.com/nswnma Aged Care Nurses >> www.facebook.com/agedcarenurses Ratios put patient safety first >> www.facebook.com/safepatientcare THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 37

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Course rip-off A new re-entry course opened at The San (Sydney Adventist Hospital) for nurses who have lost their registration.

Disgusting that these RNs can’t be mentored and re-assimilated back into the workforce without paying. We are crying out for RNs and shifting our skill sets to untrained people, while mothers who take time out to start families are discarded.

It would be nice to have a distance education course for those who live in country.

Country nurses and patients deserve better.

Who has $8000 just sitting around?

It’s scandalous to pay so much when it should be only to refresh the knowledge of the ex-RN!

Government vs ratios State Budget papers showed there is no reason for the NSW government not to implement ratios in EDs, paediatrics, community health and rural hospitals.

Nurses and doctors in the UK face prosecution for “negligence” (because they couldn’t provide adequate care due to short staffing). When the English scandal is repeated as an Australian scandal, will nurses be again “negligent” while the politicians smile and kiss more babies?

Hand in the till

This NSW government has hit a new low. Turning their backs on nurses. We will never turn our backs on our patients. We will not stop fighting for safe patient care.

It’s like this government has no soul!

The state government closed a legal loophole so it could take a super increase out of public servants’ wages – including nurses and midwives in the public system.

Going for my Doctor’s appt in RED. I am in Canada but I will wear my campaign shirt.

I’m not at work but still wearing red.

See Red Day July 1 was See Red Day and nurses were keen to participate online!

Going to work in RED. How this state government disrespects and discriminates is a warning to us all. How dare they ignore this important issue.

I’m wearing RED @ RPA today.

Go get ‘em girls! You’re all doing a brilliant job!

You go girls, red is the best.

If only they had the experience to nurse just for one day so they knew what we do!

Go Ryde and all other nurses. What is it going to take Mr O’Farrell? We don’t give up on our patients and we will not give up our fight to ensure better safety for them, with better ratios and conditions for us.

Go girls and I don’t mind if you add a decent wage to that.

Alcohol violence A trial of “sobering-up cells” was described

by Brett Holmes as a haphazard and risky approach to the issue of alcohol violence.

Aged care We posted a safety alert after reported sling failures in aged care homes.

Police face this every day. They’re not being asked to “make complex medical diagnoses on the street”! If someone disobeys a move on direction, they’ll be placed in the centre, which is staffed by qualified nurses. I’m sure there will be teething problems, but I hope they sort them out quickly and this will be a deterrent to people drinking to dangerous levels week-in-and-week-out. And help get alcohol-related violence off our streets.

It goes to show the danger and that they need to be checked often to prevent this from happening.

Poor carers, hope they are okay ... sometimes accidents just happen.

I always felt bad when a resident had a fall let alone something like this. I feel for the carers.

Thanks for the timely reminder to check slings on our lifters.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 39

NURSING RESEARCH ONLINE

The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses in Ontario, Canada.

Assessment and Device Selection for Vascular Access This best practice guideline focuses on assisting all nurses providing care to clients requiring infusion therapy in diverse practice settings, both institutional and community. This guideline incorporates best practices related to client assessment and appropriate device selection, which is applicable to all clients requiring vascular access.

Nurses working in specialty areas such as paediatrics, gerontology, oncology and dialysis, will require further practice direction from guidelines in their unique area of practice.

Nurses working in partnership with the interdisciplinary health care team, individuals requiring infusion therapy and their families, have an important role in providing infusion therapy. This guideline focuses its recommendations on: Practice Recommendations, including client assessment and device selection, client education and documentation; Education Recommendations for supporting the skills required for nurses; and Organisation and Policy Recommendations addressing the importance of a supportive practice environment as an enabling factor for providing high quality nursing care, which includes ongoing evaluation of guideline implementation.

RNAO launched the Nursing Best Practice Guidelines Program in November 1999, with funding from the government of Ontario. The purpose of this multi-year program is to support Ontario Nurses by providing them with Best Practice Guidelines for client care. There are currently almost 50 published guidelines. The guidelines are comprehensive documents providing resources necessary for the support of evidence-based http://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Assessment_ nursing practice. They are tools and_Device_Selection_for_Vascular_Access.pdf that can be used to assist in Assessment and Management of Stage decision making, facilitating I to IV Pressure Ulcers practice changes, developing Pressure ulcer management includes the princiof pressure ulcer prevention. The purpose of policies, procedures, protocols and ples this guideline is to identify nursing care related to education programs. The assessment, management of tissue load, ulcer care and the management of bacterial colonisaguidelines can be accessed at tion and infection of pressure ulcers. The guideline has relevance to all areas of clinical practice http://rnao.ca/bpg/guidelines. including acute care, chronic care, rehabilitation, Following are extracts from a community care and long-term care. The guideline focuses on three areas of pressure ulcer care: selection of the guidelines.

(1) practice recommendations, including assess-

ment, planning and interventions; (2) education recommendations; and (3) organisation & policy recommendations. http://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Assessment_ _Management_of_Stage_I_to_IV_Pressure_ Ulcers.pdf

Nursing Care of Dyspnea: The 6th Vital Sign in Individuals with COPD This guideline will address the nursing assessment and management of stable, unstable and acute dyspnea associated with COPD. The guideline focuses its recommendations on four areas: (1) Practice Recommendations directed at the nurse; (2) Educational Recommendations directed at practice competencies; (3) Organisation and Policy Recommendations directed at practice settings and the environment in order to facilitate nurses’ practice; and (4) Evaluation and monitoring indicators.

It is acknowledged that individual competencies of nurses vary between nurses and across categories of nursing professionals and are based on knowledge, skills, attitudes and judgment enhanced over time by experience and education. It is expected that individual nurses will perform only those aspects of care for which they have received appropriate education and experience. Although this guideline contains recommendations for Registered Nurses (RNs) and Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), caring for individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is an interdisciplinary endeavour. It is acknowledged that effective care depends on a coordinated interdisciplinary approach incorporating ongoing communication between health professionals and patients. Personal preferences and unique needs as well as the personal and environmental resources of each individual patient must always be kept in mind. http://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Nursing_Care_ of_Dyspnea_The_6th_Vital_Sign_in_Individuals_ with_Chronic_Obstructive_Pulmonary_Disease.pdf

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Across 1. Infantile eczema (6.10) 9. Affording physical or mental rest (7) 10. Severe weight loss resulting from chronic disease (8) 11. Normal sinus rhythm (1.1.1) 12. Replacing extracted tooth back into its alveolus (12) 14. Priming dose, initial dose (7.4) 17. A succession or recurring series of events (5) 19. A tricyclic antidepressant (12) 22. Prefix meaning new (3) 23. A multinucleate mass of protoplasm produced by the merging of cells (9)

25. Left occipitotransverse position (1.1.1) 26. ... lines: transverse grooves on the fingernails (4) 27. Directed toward or situated at the back (9) 28. Being recumbent; in a horizontal position (5) 29. Prefixes meaning against (4) 30. A persistent, compulsive dependence on a behavior or substance (9) 31. Directed away from a central organ or section (8)

Down 1. Inflammation of the suprarenal gland (11) 2. The act of watching carefully and attentively (11) 3. Inability to conceive (11) 4. Make numb or insensitive (7) 5. To summarise briefly (5) 6. An arch or bow shape (7) 7. The distinct personality of an individual (8) 8. The external occipital protuberance (5) 13. A physician who specializes in the health care of women (international/ American spelling) (12)

15. Primary carrier of genetic information found in the chromosomes (1.1.1) 16. An infectious disease that is transmitted through sexual activity (1.1.1) 17. Lipoedema (9) 18. Tubular structures usually seen as paired organelles lying in the cytocentrum (9) 20. Inflammation of the mucous lining of the nose (8) 21. A thin layer of tissue that covers a surface or divides a space or organ (8) 24. Resembling a cell (6) 27. Top limit of a graphic tracing or of any variable (4) THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 41

Being a member of the NSWNMA suddenly got easier!

Introducing the do-it-yourself membership online portal Now you can change your personal details, pay your fees and even join online using membership online.

It’s easy. Simply register with your membership number, name and email address and create your own password.

From then on, use your member number and password to log in directly to the Members login area on the website.

You can now change your details at any time – address, workplace, credit card number, mobile number, etc.

You can pay fees online, print a tax statement or request a reprint of your membership card – it’s simple.

There are dedicated areas for branch officials.

Membership online via www.nswnma.asn.au

BOOKS

BOOK ME NURSES ON THE FRONT LINE When Disaster Strikes 1878-2010 Barbra Mann Wall and Arlene Keeling Springer Publishing Company www.springerpub.com RRP $45.77 j ISBN 9780826105196

This book examines the ways in which nurses have responded to natural and man-made disasters in the United States, Canada, and other nations over the course of past and current centuries. It documents 12 disasters, including the Galveston hurricane of 1900, the 1942 Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, September 11, and Hurricane Katrina. The book provides intimate first-hand experiences through letters, memoirs, oral histories, and newspaper articles. We read stories of health care workers, survivors, and civic and private organisations, each reflecting on the character and speed of responders during a disaster. It illustrates how nurses can restore stability in the aftermath of a chaotic event and analyses the role of nurses as part of a community response.

HEALTH 4 EVER Your personal guide to health and wellbeing

Greg Wilson Balboa Press Publishing www.balboapress.com.au RRP $13.99 j ISBN 9781452508757 This book by Ballarat-based health counsellor Greg Wilson provides a concise reference of health facts and information, explained in simple terms. The book includes hints and tips aimed to “make us think” while improving relationships is a key focus. “I am an advocate for nature’s foods to help us overcome our health concerns,” Greg Wilson says. “We need to be fully informed and kept up-to-date with the truth about healthful foods and the interaction they have on our bodies.”

KITTY’S WAR The remarkable wartime experiences of Kit McNaughton Janet Butler University of Queensland Press www.uqp.com.au RRP $25.19 j ISBN 9780702249679

Growing up in the same Victorian district as Great War army nurse, Sister Kit McNaughton, though many decades apart, was an inspiration to historian Janet Butler. The idea of a young nurse setting out from their shared environment of dry stone walls, wheatfields and meandering creeks, to cross the world and into the First World War, took hold of Butler, who has based the book on Kit McNaughton’s previously unpublished war diaries.

SPECIAL INTEREST

PLACEMENT LEARNING IN OLDER PEOPLE NURSING (A guide for students in practice) Julie McGarry, Philip Clissett, Davina Porock and Wendy L Walker Bailliere Tindall Elsevier www.elservierhealth.com.au RRP $15.28 j ISBN 97807020430458

A logical, step-by-step approach to preparing for a medical placement, this book will tell you what to expect from the placement, what you can learn, how to link theory and practice, and how to make the most of your learning opportunities. It explains how to develop medical competencies, mapping specific cancer and palliative care exercises and activities to the NMC competencies. Narratives from other students describe what the placement will really be like and there is honest discussion of the challenges of a medical placement plus advice on possible approaches to the situations that may arise.

TOXIC NURSING – Managing Bullying, Bad Attitudes and Total Turmoil Cheryl Dellasega and Rebecca L Volpe Sigma Theta Tau International www.nursingknowledge.org/sttibooks RRP $30.69 j ISBN 981937554422

Nurse managers and nurse administrators at all levels are frequently confronted by the need to manage issues arising from the interpersonal relationships of employees. As a much-needed follow up to When Nurses Hurt Nurses (STTI, 2011), this book offers numerous concrete strategies for dealing with the common employee challenges faced by nurse supervisors.

All books can be ordered through the publisher or your local bookshop. NSWNMA members can borrow the books featured here, and many more, from our Records and Information Centre (RIC).

Contact Jeannette Bromfield gensec@nswnma.asn.au or Cathy Matias 8595 2121 cmatias@nswnma.asn.au. All reviews by NSWNMA RIC Coordinator/Librarian Jeannette Bromfield. Some books are reviewed using information supplied and have not been independently reviewed.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 43

CPD courses within NSW > 13 September | Understanding dementia| RN/EN | 7 CPD hours | Burwood > 17–18 September | Nursing patients with an intellectual disability | RN/EN | 14 CPD hours | Burwood > 19–20 September | Wound management| RN/EN | 14 CPD hours | Wagga Wagga

www.acn.edu.au

> 24–25 October | Palliative care| RN/EN | 14 CPD hours | Bega These courses are NSW Health supported and attract no fees for NSW Health employees.

1800 COLLEGE (265 534) studentservices@acn.edu.au Australian College of Nursing

Quality legal advice for NSWNMA members 2 Compensation and negligence claims 2 Motor vehicle claims 2 Wage loss claims 2 Industrial and Employment law

2 First Free Consultation for all members 2 Discounted rates for members on all matters 2 Free Standard Wills 2 No win – no charge*

Call the NSWNMA on 1300 367 962 and find out how you can access this great service.

Offices in Sydney, Newcastle and visiting offices in regional areas (by appointment). *Conditions apply

NURSING & MIDWIFERY SCHOLARSHIPS Scholarships Scholarships ar are ea available vailable in in the following following areas: areas: > continuing professional development for nurses and midwivs

> nurse re-entry

> postgraduate for nurses and midwives

> non clinical support staff in an emergency department, continuing professional development.

> nurses and midwives in an Aboriginal Medical Service

> emergency department nursing

Open 22 July 2013 Close 13 September 2013 An Australian Government initiative supporting nurses and midwives.

ACN, Australia’s professional organisation for all nurses is proud to work with the Department of Health and Ageing as the fund administrator of this program.

Apply online www www.acn.edu.au .acn.edu.au | freecall 1800 117 262 44 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

Choose HIP for super benefits

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Grow your career

by joining ACN! We W e believe believe that that e each ach a and nd e every ver y n nurse urse iin n Australia have opportunity Australia should should h ave tthe he o pportunit y tto o grow and ffurther grow ttheir heir career career and urther our our profession. profession. > Education Education tthat hat p pays ays

For For membership information and online application visit: www.acn.edu.au www.acn.edu.au or freecall 1800 061 660

> True True representation representation > M Membership embership benefits benefits to to help help you you grow grow

Australian College of Nursing

AGED CARE NURSING SCHOLARSHIPS Open 1 July 2013 – Close 30 August 2013 Aged Aged Care Care Nursing Nursing Scholarships Scholarships a are re available available ffor: or: Undergraduate > For For tthose hose w with ith a dem demonstrated onstrated c commitment ommitment tto oa aged ged c care a re w wanting anting tto o become become a rregistered egistered n nurse. urse.

P Postgraduate ostgraduate > For For rregistered egistered n nurses urses w working orking iin na aged ged c care a re wishing wishing tto o ffurther ur ther ttheir heir sstudies. t u d i e s.

Nurse Practitioner > For For rregistered egistered n nurses urses w working orking iin na aged ged c care a re wishing wishing tto ou undertake nder take sstudies tudies lleading eading tto o endorsement endorsement a ass a n nurse urse p practitioner. ractitioner.

46 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

Continuing professional development > For For rregistered egistered a and nd e enrolled n ro l l e d n nurses urses w working orking iin n aged ag e d c care are wishing wishing to to attend at tend a short sh o r t c course, ourse, workshop w o r ks h o p o orr c conference onference rrelating elating tto o tthe he c care a re of of older older people. people.

DEVELOP DEVELOP AND SHAPE YOUR YOUR AGED CARE CAREER

freecall 1800 116 696 scholarships@acn.edu.au www.acn.edu.au www .acn.edu.au

Nurse re-entry > For For fo formerly rmerly rregistered egistered o orr e enrolled n ro l l e d n nurses urses whose whose rregistration egistration has has lapsed lapsed wishing wishing tto o re-enter re - enter the the nursing n u r sin g p profession rofession with with a focus focus on on aged ag e d c care. are.

Aged Care Nursing Scholarships (ACNS) are funded by the Australian Government.

ACN, Australia’s professional organisation for all nurses, is proud to work with the Department of Health and Ageing as the fund administrator for this program.

ENR ENROLLED OLLED NURSE ST STATE TATE T

CONFERENCE 2013

The Enrolled Nurse Professional Association NSW are pleased to invite you to the 20th Enrolled Nurse state conference being held in Sydney at the Mercure Hotel. The conference is organized

by ENPPA enabling deleggates a to discuss and disseminate information to other nurses, forge friendships and networking with colleagues.

HIGHLIGHTS c 20 years On c Have your Say on your Role c What’s around the corner for EN’s c Wound Care c The use of a Robot in Surger y

DATE: DATE: 19–20 September TIME: 8am 9am Registration Registraation VENUE: Mercure Mercure Hotel 818-820 George Georgge Street, Sydney COST (for both da days): ys): Members $310 Non Members $340 (includes all meals)

COMPETITION

Win family fun at Mercure Sydney

ould lik ENPPA Exec w ENPA would likee to in invite vite all delegates deleggates a to join us for drinks and canop canopy’s y’s at the conclusion of the Thursdayy Prog Thursda Programme. ramme.

This is a ggreat reat wa wayy to network netw ork and met other delegates deleg ates and for form m ggreat reat friendships.

ENQUIRIES & REGISTRA REGISTRATION: ATION: T Enrolled Nurse Professional Association PO Box 775, KINGSWOOD KINGSWOOD NSW 2747 44EL s %MAIL RJROSEBY EL s %MAIL RJROSEBY GGMAIL COM MAIL COM 2EBECCA SMUDGE 2EBECCA SMUDGE HHOTMAIL COM #HRISTINE OTMAIL COM #HRISTINE . " %-0,/9%23 2%15)2).' !. ).6/)#% CONTACT . " %-0,/9%23 2%15)2).' !. ).6/)#% CONTACT 2 OZ n GAROZN OPTUSNET COM AU OPTUSNET COM AU 2OZ n GAROZN

Supporting NSW Nurses in reproductive and sexual health ! ( + + )! + Family Planning NSW Conference++

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Apply online

www.fpnsw.org.au or email education@fpnsw.org.au for more information

Mercure Sydney is conveniently located in the city, within walking distance of the best attractions, shopping, eating spots and with public transport links on the doorstep providing easy access to everything Sydney has to offer.

The Capitol Theatre, Darling Harbour, Chinatown, the Powerhouse Museum and Sydney Entertainment Centre are all within easy walking distance, and with local transport links at the hotel’s doorstep it is easy to explore the greater Sydney region.

Guests are greeted with contemporary style rooms featuring light wood grain ďŹ nishes with modern splashes of colour to reect the vibrant Sydney backdrop. Mercure Sydney also provides an indoor rooftop swimming pool and gym with stunning views over the Sydney CBD, offering a refreshing way to start or end a day.

The Lamp is offering members a chance to win a two-night stay in a Mercure Sydney’s city view room for two adults and two children with breakfast included, PLUS a family pass for two adults and two children to Madame Tussauds and Sea Life Sydney.

To enter the competition, simply write your name, address and membership number on the back of an envelope and send to: Mercure Sydney Competition 50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo, NSW, 2017 *Competition closes 30 August 2013. Please note: only one entry per member will be accepted. Conditions apply. The family of four stay in one room at the Mercure Sydney.

MOVIES

movies of the month

THE GATEKEEPERS Riveting in a morbidly mesmerising way, The Gatekeepers is a politically complex historical account of the continuing Palestine/Israel conflict, writes Anni Cameron.

The film details how, at the end of the Six Day War in 1967, one million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem came under Israeli control and remain so today at a huge social, political, economic and moral cost.

Israeli cinematographer turned first-time documentary maker, Dror Moreh, has achieved a significant coup by persuading six former directors of Israel’s super secretive counterterrorism agency, Shin Bet, to speak with unparalled candour about the agency’s activities from 1968 to the present day.

Some of these men talk in a perfunctory way about torture, assassinations, collateral damage and spying, almost as if discussing a shopping list. One can’t help noticing the irony in how some of them resemble so closely in manner and deed, the Nazis in WWII, while others seem to agonise over the devastating failures of intelligence and the deeply troubling implications this has had over time.

An early leader of Shin Bet was Avraham Shalom (1980-1986) whose tenure was marked with controversy.

Previously he had been part of a team of Mossad and Shin Bet agents who had tracked down, kidnapped and brought to justice an Argentinian citizen by the name of Ricardo Klement; better known as Adolf Eichmann. However, later during his tenure, he ordered the summary execution of two Palestinian terrorists captured after the hijacking of a bus. In the interview his demeanour indicated little if any remorse for this and he claimed that it wouldn’t have been a problem had not a reporter been present to photograph the men.

Public outrage forced his resignation in 1986.

One of the resounding intelligence failures was during the tenure of the director, Carmi Gillon (1994-1996). He had long warned that extremists would attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Rabin in order to sabotage the peace process in place. At that time in history, Israel had never had a political assassination and considerable scepticism surrounded Gillon’s assessment.

History proved him correct while at the same time demonstrating that the terrorists were not exclusively Palestinian.

Ironically, this failure was followed by Gillon’s greatest coup, when he oversaw the 1996, cold-blooded assassination of “The Engineer”, a member of the Palestinian organisation Hamas, using a mobile phone rigged with explosives.

What makes this documentary so compelling is the sense of menace and pervasive moral fuzziness.

Shin Bet agents were sent to live among Palestinians. They learnt Arabic so well they could tell when prisoners were using evasive tactics or codes and the methods of torture accompanying this were staggering. Through such means, Shin Bet was able to develop an enormous network of agents and prisoners with information to impart – willingly or unwillingly.

The documentary is dense with archival footage and chilling computer animation giving a bird’s eye view of those under

48 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

MEMBERGIVEAWAY The Lamp has 5 in-season double passes to give away to The Gatekeepers thanks to Madman Entertainment.

The first 5 members to email their name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au will win.

surveillance. This inescapable sense of menace weaves it way throughout the documentary, as we watch people caught in the cross-hairs seconds before being eliminated.

The feeling persists long after the film has ended and highlights the intrinsic complexity of the Israeli/Palestine dilemma. If nothing else it underscores the notion that it is merely Pyrrhic victories that Israel has continued to experience to date; winning the battles but losing the war.

IN CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 5 Anni Cameron, RN, BHA MEd, is a Teacher of Nursing at St George TAFE, Sydney Institute.

FRANCES HA This collaboration by Noah Baumbach, director of films such as The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding, and indie actress Greta Gerwig, is charming and witty, writes Chris Benellie Ladera.

Filmed in beautiful black and white, reminiscent of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, New York City is shown in a different light; raw, artistic and not the overly commercialised New York depicted in recent times.

Frances, a struggling dancer already in her late twenties, embarks on an extended coming of age story. As her best friend and roommate, Sophie (Mickey Sutton), moves on and essentially grows up, Frances is left to manoeuvre through New York’s competitive dancing scene.

Chasing one’s dream is never easy. Frances is not your typical company dancer; her imperfections make her stand out, leaving her almost out-of-place. As her future as a dancer unravels, Frances remains unrelenting and ironically awkward, but ultimately endearing.

She is childlike in the sense that she wants to do things her way, and inevitably at her own pace. The hipster New York crowd surrounds Frances; her friends, real or transient, help her throughout the film.

The charm of Frances Ha lies in that the movie is simply about Frances, her messy life, and her constant changing of address, her non-existent love life, her ever-changing relationship with Sophie, and her unwillingness to compromise.

This premise may sound indulgent yet the film manages to engage.

You have a sense of cheering for Frances and wanting to talk some sense into her, and you are left bewildered that one can be so unfocused and at times naive. The film is as spontaneous as Frances. It is beautifully made and stylishly written. A smart, funny and ultimately engaging film with a refreshing point of view.

IN CINEMAS AUGUST 15.

Chris Benellie Ladera is an RN CCU at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst

MEMBERGIVEAWAY The Lamp has 15 in-season double passes to give away to Frances Ha thanks to Transmission Films.

The first 15 members to email their name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au will win.

WHAT MAISIE KNEW Seven-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a custody battle between her aging rock star mother Suzanna, (Julianne Moore), and her father Beale (Steve Coogan), a major art dealer.

In a race to win the court's advantage, Beale marries Maisie’s nanny Margo, prompting Suzanna in turn to marry friend and local bartender, Lincoln. As Margo and Lincoln come to empathise with Maisie’s position they are teased by the notion of making their own surrogate family. Based on a Henry James novel first published in 1897, What Maisie Knew is a tale that resonates in the modern day. Young performer Onata Aprile, as Maisie, was hailed by critics when the film first screened on the festival circuit.

In cinemas August 22 IN CINEMAS AUGUST 22.

MEMBERGIVEAWAY

The Lamp has 15 in-season double passes to give away to What Maise Knew thanks to Madman Entertainment.

The first 15 members to email their name, membership number, address and telephone number to lamp@nswnma.asn.au will win.

THE LAMP AUGUST 2013 | 49

DIARY DATES

conferences, seminars, meetings NSW

ACT

Theory and Management of NonInvasive Ventilation Workshop 29 August Blacktown Allen O’Connell 0417 010 463 www.mayohealthcare.com.au/education/ education_workshop.htm Rehabilitation nursing for RN/ENs – Australian College of Nursing 22-23 August Coffs Harbour www.acn.edu.au/ 2nd WOUNDed Education Event and AWMA (NSW) AGM 23 August Lithgow www.awma.com.au/nsw/ info.nsw@awma.com.au 03 9696 1210 13th Rural Critical Care Conference 23-24 August Albury www.ruralcriticalcare.asn.au Endocrine Nurses Annual Conference: Eating Disorders and the Thyroid 26 August Sydney ensa.org.au/2013-symposium The deteriorating patient: clinical decision making for RN/ENs – Australian College of Nursing 26-27 August Wollongong www.acn.edu.au/ Wound management for RNs/ENs – Australian College of Nursing 29-30 August Burwood www.acn.edu.au Callan Park History Week: Foundations of Madness 8 September Callan Park Bookings essential. $20 0413 733 218 focp.admin@gmail.com Enrolled Nurses Professional Association of NSW Annual Conference 19-20 September Sydney Members $310, non-members $340 1300 554 249 rjroseby@gmail.com

12th Australian Palliative Care Conference 3-6 September Canberra www.dcconferences.com.au/apcc2013/ Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Nurses 15th National Conference and AGM 6-8 October Canberra www.catsin.org.au

INTERSTATE Public Health Association Australia 42nd Annual Conference A fair go for health: tackling physical, social and psychological inequality 16-18 September Melbourne www.phaa.net.au/42nd_Annual_Confere nce.php Australian College of Nurse Practitioners 2013 Conference 24-27 September Hobart www.dcconferences.com.au/acnp2013/ CRANAplus 2013 Annual Conference: From the cradle to the grave 25-28 September Darwin crana.org.au/about/conference/ conference@crana.org.au 2013 Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) Conference 30 September-2 October Gold Coast www.acipcconference.com.au Australian College of Midwives 18th Biennial Conference 30 September - 3 October Hobart www.acm2013.com Australian Day Surgery Nurses Association 2013 National Conference 12-13 October Melbourne www.adsna.info Michelle Berarducci (02) 9799 1632 nswadmin@adsna.info 5th Australian Rural & Remote Mental Health Symposium 14-16 October Geelong (07) 5502 2068 hanzmh.asn.au/rrmh/

Crossword solution A D R E N A L I T I S

T O B E S E S R V O A T R I O Y N

P I N T F E R T D I L M I T C Y Y P O S T E E O A D D I C K D

C D E R M A T I R D U E U L C A C H E U N L A E I M P L A N T T I N T N G D O S E C Y N T P R A M I N E L H E L O T I U M N B E A U L Y R I O R T A N T I T T I O N S E F F E R

50 | THE LAMP AUGUST 2013

T I S N X I A O I N G Y N C L E E C N E O T L R O I N G O I L S E N T

Dementia and Community Care Conference 30-31 October Melbourne Wayne Woff 03 9571 5606 office@totalagedservices.com.au www.totalagedservices.com.au

OVERSEAS 2nd World Congress of Clinical Safety 12-13 September Heidelberg www.iarmm.org Australasian Nurse Educators Conference 2013 9-11 October New Zealand www.nursed.ac.nz/ 8th European Congress on Violence in Clinical Psychiatry 23-26 October Ghent www.oudconsultancy.nl/GhentSite/ Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry Meeting 2014 May 21-24, 2014 Germany www.epa2014ulm.eu International Conference on Infectious & Tropical Diseases (ICTID) 16 -18 January, 2015 Cambodia ictid.webs.com/

REUNIONS Wollongong Hospital May 1972-75 Date TBA Maureen Robertson (Sherley) 0438 830 790 Sydney Eye Hospital Graduate Nurses Reunion Lunch 2 October Parliament House, Sydney Jeanette Fox 02 4751 4829 bekysa@tpg.com.au Mater Graduate Nurses’ Association annual reunion 20 October Mary McKillop Place, North Sydney Liturgy 11.30am Lunch 12.30pm Joan Stort 0401 344 363 joans2458@yahoo.com St George Hospital Graduate Nurses’ Association AGM & annual reunion 26 October Ramsgate Judith Cornell jcornell@netspace.net.auMeeting 2014 May 21-24, 2014 Germany www.epa2014ulm.eu

diary dates is a free service.

Please send details of your event by the 5th of each month, in the format used here – event, date, contact details, website if applicable.

Email: lamp@nswnma.asn.au Fax: 9550 3667 Post: 50 O’Dea Ave, Waterloo NSW 2017

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If you would like to be a member of the super fund that puts its members first, call 1300 650 873 today.

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FSS Trustee Corporation ABN 11 118 202 672 ASFL 293340 is the trustee of the First State Superannuation Scheme ABN 53 226 460 365