Nurses unions take government to industrial commission over claims of understaffing

The nurses union has taken the government to the state Industrial Commission over what it described as an ongoing short staffing across the state’s major hospitals.

Department of Health Secretary Dale Webster speaks to the media at Ambulance Tasmania headquarters in Hobart on Monday, December 23, 2024.

The nurses union has taken the government to the state Industrial Commission over what it described as an ongoing short staffing across the state’s major hospitals.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd said the union was trying to find solutions on behalf of its hard-pressed members.

“The ANMF is perplexed by data provided by the Department in relation to their current vacancy rates, when the department have reported just over 33 full-time equivalent (FTE) vacant positions at the LGH when we know that there are over 44 FTE vacant in the LGH ED alone,” she said.

“Further, they have reported that there are only just over 45 FTE vacant at the RHH when one ward itself is reporting well over 10 FTE vacant.

“The Department is either completely disconnected and unaware of the breadth and depth of the short staffing issues, or they are deliberately intending to mislead the ANMF and its members.”

The union and the Department of Health took part in conciliation talks on Monday.

The nursing union says there is a serious staffing shortage in the state’s hospitals.

Health Department secretary Dale Webster said a difference in definitions was at the heart of the dispute.

“The main discrepancy is the fact that the unions won’t count locums and agency nurses,” he said.

“Now, if you’ve got an agency nurse on a shift, the shift is covered. It’s not vacant.

The union is counting every shift as vacant. if there’s not a permanent member or fixed term nursing member in it, we counted a vacant if there’s no one in it.

“Our role is to cover as many shifts as we possibly can, and that’s why we’ve got agency nurses on our rosters, that’s why we’ve got locum doctors on our rosters, local allied health professionals on our rosters.

“We don’t count those as vacancies, but of course, we will advertise those jobs.

“We’re trying to minimise agency nurses and locums and reduce it down to absolutely necessary … but we’ve grown in demand and as we grow and demand, we need to grow our staff.

“We are very confident in our recruitment processes. It’s resulted in 1500 new people coming to the health system, or a net of just under 400 since April of this year.”

Originally published as Nurses unions take government to industrial commission over claims of understaffing