Vaccine mandate could hit one in five SA Health workers
As fears rise a national vaccine mandate deal could cripple five hospitals, so do calls for the government to hire every new nursing graduate to hold the line.
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National cabinet has accepted a plan to mandate vaccinations for all health workers, meaning one in five staff at major Adelaide hospitals, including the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth, would be banned from work.
Until now, different states and territories have set their own vaccination rules, which include some health workers but not others.
But the new national rules cover anyone working in public health settings. It comes as the state government faces calls to hire all graduating student nurses in preparation for inevitable Covid cases once the state opens its border.
By accepting the recommendations of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) reports on mandatory vaccination, state and territory leaders yesterday agreed to lock in mandatory vaccination in all health care settings.
The new rules will require Covid vaccinations across the country in all public health care settings including public hospitals, public health clinics, ambulance services, patient transport services, correctional health facilities and any other public health service.
It will also apply to workers at private health facilities, such as private hospitals or day procedure centres, as well as outpatient services.
Universities and TAFEs that manage health care student placements or internships in clinical settings will also be included in the new rules, along with health service providers connected with the Defence department.
The new requirements will be felt differently around the country, with some states, such as NSW, having already mandated jabs for all workers in all public and private hospitals.
It is not yet known when the decision will take effect in South Australia.
The latest SA Health figures show vaccination rates are lowest among employees of the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, which includes the Lyell McEwin Hospital.
More than a quarter of workers in the network have not yet been fully vaccinated, while that figure drops to a quarter in the southern network and 20 per cent in the central network, including the Royal Adelaide and Queen Elizabeth hospitals.
The state government said it is already mandatory for all front line “red zone” workers and those working with vulnerable South Australians to be fully vaccinated, including staff in high-risk healthcare settings such as emergency departments.
But almost 50 unjabbed workers across metropolitan health networks have been reassigned because they have not met the requirement, figures released last week showed.
“As a large organisation, we are well equipped to manage staffing movement within our hospitals,” a SA Health spokeswoman said.
SA Health and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) said the reassignment of unvaccinated workers has not presented problems.
But the union said there were staffing shortages that must be addressed before South Australia lifts its border restrictions and hospitals begin dealing with Covid.
State secretary Elizabeth Dabars called on the state government to employ all nurses and midwives graduating this year.
She said there are between 1100 and 1300 nurses and midwives about to complete their degrees at universities across South Australia.
Traditionally, she said, only about 600 would be offered a placement in the Transition to Professional Practice Program (TPPP), SA Health’s graduate program.
“We’re calling on the government and the department to employ all of those nurses because otherwise they are going to be taken up by the shortfall over in, for instance, NSW and Victoria,” she said.
“We are in a pandemic so the amount of work that is required of people is increasing with the role of nurses in vaccination and quarantine and a whole range of other activities as well as the increased demand in the system.”
The Advertiser understands the state government has put plans in place to hire nearly all graduates.
Health Minister Stephen Wade said there is a strong plan to get South Australia ready for relaxed borders once vaccination rates are up.
“This includes significantly increasing our workforce, including nurses, and we have every intention of increasing our usual intake of nurses to ensure our state is readily equipped – as indicated to ANMF officials when I met with them recently,” he said.
“The number of frontline health staff has increased every year under the Marshall Liberal government.”
State’s nursing students up to challenge
Final-year nurse Holly Ellul, 21, of West Beach, is keen to secure work in her
home state.
The University of South Australia student has submitted an application for a place in the department’s TPPP (graduate training program), and several private hospitals.
“I’ve only applied here in SA,” she said. “I was considering going interstate because there were a lot of jobs over there and I have family that live in Melbourne, but due to the whole Covid situation I thought it’s probably safer to stay home.”
Ms Ellul, fully vaccinated since June, supported the call for all graduate nurses to be employed.
“We work so hard during our degree and at the end of the day we really want to be employed full time,” she said.
“Just seeing the amount of difference that we can all make … there’s clearly
a need.
“I was born at the Women’s and Children's Hospital and I’d love to work at the WCH.”
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