NSW nurses begin 24-hour strike action as staffing ratio spat escalates

Thousands of nurses and midwives have once again descended outside Parliament House, vowing to continue fighting until they get nurse-to-patient ratios and a pay rise of 4.75 per cent.

Thousands of nurses and midwives have once again descended outside Parliament House, vowing to continue fighting until they get nurse-to-patient ratios and a pay rise of 4.75 per cent.

Members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association began congregating on Macquarie Street from 10am on Thursday chanting: “enough is enough” and “What do we want? Ratios. When do we want it? Now.”.

It comes as Greens MP and health spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann gave notice in the NSW Upper House of the intention to introduce a bill to legislate nurse to patient ratios.

Striking NSW public hospital nurses on February 15. Picture: AFP

The Safe Patient Care (Nurse-to-Patient and Midwife-to-Patient Ratios) Bill 2022 will be based upon the NSWNMA’s Ratios, Pay and Conditions Award Claim 2022 and consultation with key stakeholders before being introduced and debated.

“Nurses and midwives are at breaking point. It’s time for the government to listen to their calls for safe nurse to patient ratios so that patients get a safe level of care,” Ms Faehrmann said.

“Chronic understaffing is dangerous for patients and it’s dangerous for nurses and midwives. The Government has refused to listen to the pleas of our frontline healthcare workers, so if they don’t legislate ratios to make our hospitals safe again, the Greens will.”

NSW nurses striking over staff shortages on February 15. Picture: AFP

NSWNMA general secretary Brett Holmes said the majority of the union’s branches would be on strike today.

“More than 180 branches voted in favour of statewide strike action over the past two weeks, and over 160 of those will be participating in a 24-hour strike or work bans,” Mr Holmes said.

“Despite their pleas for more support from the government, nurses and midwives are extremely fatigued from working double shifts and increased amounts of overtime, because of the growing gaps in staffing rosters.
“What nurses and midwives are asking for is not unreasonable. We’re simply calling on the government to prioritise patient care and commit to a safe staffing model with a guaranteed minimum number of nurses and midwives on every shift.”

Earlier this week, Mr Holmes said in a statement posted online that a “staffing emergency” had intensified.

“In the past five weeks there have been multiple ‘code yellow’ incidents across the state, which signals an internal staffing emergency inside a health facility. These are becoming more frequent across metropolitan and regional sites because of the staffing issues,” he said.

Nurses are angry about being increasingly asked to work double shifts and overtime. Picture: Nine News

“We’ve had ongoing reports of nurses and midwives working double shifts and increased amounts of overtime, gaps in staffing rosters going unfilled for weeks, vacant positions being left unfilled for months, as well as daily text messages begging staff to pick up extra shifts.
“Our members are scathing of the government’s unwillingness to continue an open dialogue with us.”

The NSWNMA said staffing for “life-preserving services” would be maintained despite the strike action.

“Members in flood affected areas will be focusing efforts on their local crises, where they are needed,” the union wrote.

The strike is to highlight the current nurse to patient ratios in NSW, with healthcare workers gathering in the local area to protest the unfair expectations.

Reports of the planned strike action first emerged last week, where nurses had until Friday to vote whether they would stop work from 7am on Thursday week to 7am on April 1.

Last Friday, nurses at the state’s largest hospital, Westmead, voted to strike and expect to send more than 400 staff to descend on state parliament following the government’s failure to address pay increases and boost nurse-to-patient ratios.

The association’s Westmead branch secretary Tim Blofield said casual staff were called in to assist skeleton staff during last month’s strike but next week would see “critically low staffing” across multiple hospitals.

“(At Westmead) we are expecting to close down elective surgery rooms so there will be increased discharges and decreased patient admissions,’’ he said.

Mr Blofield dismissed the government’s stance that nurses were coping.

“If the public hospital keeps going at this level, we’re putting the public at risk,’’ he said.

The Westmead contingent is expected to outnumber the February 15 strike because “nothing’s changed” and “there’s not much more these burnt out and angry nurses can suffer”.

A NSW Health spokesman said last week the government had engaged in extensive talks with the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association and that the staff-to-patient ratio system was flexible and considered the number of patients, their complexity, acuity and care needs.

“Since the start of the pandemic, NSW Health has engaged in forward planning with clinicians to ensure our hospitals have capacity to care for Covid-19 patients and meet workforce surges,’’ the spokesman said.

NSWNMA member and registered nurse Debbie Ross said has toyed with the idea of leaving after 35 years as a nurse.

“I’ve been working for 35 years and I’ve never seen the health system in such disarray. People are in tears because they can’t provide the care they’d like to.

“The ratios we are asking for have been implemented in Queensland and two years they’ve managed to save $70m in lack of absteeism, less work cover claims, less complications and less re-admissions.”