CONTENTS

Contacts

NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association

For all membership enquiries and assistance, including The Lamp subscriptions and change of address, contact our Sydney office.

Sydney Office

50 O’Dea Avenue, Waterloo NSW 2017 (all correspondence)

T 8595 1234 (metro) 1300 367 962 (non-metro)

F 9662 1414 E gensec@nswnma.asn.au

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NSWNMA Communications Manager

Danielle Blasutto

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Editorial Committee

Shaye Candish, NSWNMA General Secretary

Michael Whaites, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary

O’Bray Smith, NSWNMA President

Michelle Cashman, Long Jetty Continuing Care

Richard Noort, Justice Health

Liz McCall, Byron Central Hospital

Diane Lang, South East Regional Hospital, Bega Valley

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The Lamp ISSN: 0047-3936

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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.

Authorised by S. Candish, General Secretary, NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, 50 O’Dea Avenue Waterloo NSW 2017

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10

COVER STORY

Overwhelming support for action

Stronger workplace organisation delivers upturn in membership activity.

12 COVER STORY

14

18

Nurses tell St Vincent’s Health: ‘Be a leader’ Mater and St Vincent’s Private Hospital branches decry company “stalling tactics”.

MENTAL HEALTH

Record demand for mental health services

The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, followed by the east coast floods and the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health of Australians.

NSW STATE ELECTION

With the NSW state election less than two months away The Lamp looks at some of the critical election issues for nurses and midwives.

26

PRIVATE HOSPITALS Low Healthe Care offer gets thumbs down

Nurses have said ‘No’ to a substandard agreement proposed by the owners of Healthe Care Surgical.

28 INTERNATIONAL Big win on ratios and pay for New York nurses

REGULARS

5 Editorial

6 Competition

6 Your letters

30 What’s

STRIKES SPREAD TO Your rights and entitlements at work p.32 Global nurse rebellion Record demand for services page 28 page 14 page 18

COVER :

74,374 The Lamp is independently audited under the AMAA's CAB Total Distribution Audit. Audit Period: 01/04/2020 31/03/2021 (Yearly Audit) Avg Net Distribution per Issue The Lamp is printed on PEFC certified paper. The paper is certified under the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) which assures consumers that the utilised forestry products can be traced from a certified, sustainably managed forest through all stages of processing and production by a chain of custody process. The Lamp is wrapped in Ecopure film which is recyclable and biodegradable. 8

GENERAL SECRETARY

The next stage in our campaign: the ballot box

The NSW state election on Saturday March 25 gives us a golden opportunity to advance our objective of achieving ratios in the Public Health System.

The last four years since the last state election have been traumatic for our Public Health System and for the nurses and midwives who have been propping it up.

During this time it has been easy to think that the Perottet government and the health workforce have been living in parallel universes.

In the bubble of Macquarie Street, the Premier and his health minister have only just started to move away from their fantastical assertion that the existing staffing system is effective and nurses and midwives are “coping” fine and should stop complaining.

Meanwhile in the real world the relentless pressure that has been exacerbated by COVID has taken a heavy physical and psychological toll on nurses and midwives.

There are numerous empirical studies that back this up.

They show that nurses and midwives are at real risk of post-traumatic stress disorder and are experiencing symptoms of fatigue, burnout, stress, anxiety, and depression.

Last year we had four strikes with massive participation by nurses and midwives and with overwhelming support from the community and even the media.

The message could not have been louder and clearer from those working at the frontline about the fragility of the system and the risks to patient care.

But still the Perottet government stubbornly refused and still refuses to listen and, unconscionably, refuses to act.

On March 25 there will be an opportunity to make the government accountable for this dereliction of duty.

The NSWNMA has consistently put forward our solutions to the problems of our crisis-ridden Public Health System which are based on the implementation of mandated, shiftby-shift ratios.

While the Coalition has ignored nurses and midwives other political parties have listened and responded.

The ALP hasn’t committed to everything we want but they have agreed to many of our proposals and we are confident we can persuade them to do more.

Both the Greens and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers’ Party have already committed to support mandated safe staffing ratios. There are other issues in this election that are important to us as nurses and midwives and as union members.

The government’s wages policy has systematically eroded the standard of living of nurses and midwives and malignly impacted on their retirement incomes during the decade of its existence.

In 2020-21 at the height of the COVID crisis, as nurses and midwives literally risked their lives at the frontline of the pandemic, the government – with Dominic Perottet as Treasurer –shamefully responded by unilaterally limiting their pay rise to a disgraceful 0.3 per cent.

According to the Australia Institute, the pay caps have cost a nurse or midwife $80,000 each since they were first imposed in 2012.

This policy has to go and the ALP has promised it will if it wins office in March.

Another shameful Perottet government failure is workers compensation. An admirable scheme that was once a strong safety net for injured workers has now been described as “a basket case”. It is a financial and moral disaster which has impacted negatively on many injured workers and their families’ mental health and wellbeing. Most respondents to a survey conducted by the NSW Injured Workers’ Support Network said they experienced suicidal tendencies as a result of their experiences with the NSW workers compensation scheme. In this coming election I would urge you to give a high priority to all these issues and how the respective party policies will impact on your jobs and the care we can deliver to our patients. In particular we have to consider how our vote will advance our goal of having shift-by-shift ratios implemented across New South Wales. The benefits of winning ratios will flow on to everyone who needs care and the standards set in the public health system will be a foundation for establishing the same conditions in the private sector.

Between now and March 25 let’s make one last push to reach out to the community to support us in this critical task of saving our Public Health System. n