Nurses walk off the job only days after ‘historic’ by-election

Thousands of nurses have walked of the job today only days after a whirlwind by-election that dealt a damaging blow to the State Government off the back of frustration over failures to deliver key medical services to the south coast.

Fears for the future of medical services on the south coast will stay in the spotlight after a “historic” by-election result as nurses across the state walk off the job for the first time in almost a decade.

More than 100 nurses from the Southeast Regional Hospital are expected to join staff from hospitals in Batemans Bay and Moruya when they go on strike on Tuesday, according to NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Bega hospital branch president, Diane Lang.

Ms Lang said nurses had been fighting for increased pay and staffing ratios for 10 years and had become fed up with being ignored by the State Government despite pressure from the Covid pandemic forcing many staff to breaking point.

“The State Government continues to say our hospital systems are fine, our nurses are coping,” she said.

“We want to tell them that we are not coping.

“We are tired of Dominic Perrottet telling us that, because we have been fighting for so long and he needs to listen to us now.”

Ms Lang said nurses at the Southeast Regional Hospital in Bega were receiving messages every day to work extra shifts or double shifts.

In one ward, Ms Lang said there were as many as 70 vacant staff positions on the roster once it was published.

The strike is the first state-wide industrial action by nurses in NSW since 2013.

Tens of thousands of nurses are expected to take part, walking away from more than 150 public hospitals who voted in favour of industrial action in the last few weeks.

At Wollongong Hospital, NSWNMA Illawarra secretary Genevieve Stone said nursing staff voted almost unanimously for the strike.

She said some staff will strike for almost 12 hours on Tuesday, with buses taking others up to larger protests in Sydney.

At the crux of the union’s demands, Ms Stone said were calls for a pay rise of more than 2.5 per cent to compensate for a pay freeze that has been in place since the pandemic began in 2020, as well as the introduction of nurse-to-patient ratios.

“We’ve been asking for ratios for years and years,” Ms Stone said.

“If we had them, we wouldn't have had any problems in the pandemic.

“We would have had way more nurses circulating throughout the system, which is what’s safe and best for the public.”

Ms Stone said the union was calling for one to three staff in emergency departments and one to four on the wards.

“We’ve been having discussions with the premier for year after year,” Ms Stone said.

“The consensus for us is rage outweighs fatigue.

“We’re in for the long haul this year – I think that this is the beginning.”

Ms Lang said there was a need for nurses to strike now off the back of the Covid pandemic, which she believes only exacerbated longstanding issues in hospitals throughout the state.

“So we have more and more people coming into the hospital now because of the pandemic,” she said.

“But, long before that we were understaffed, under coped.

“We were told to improve our time management and we’re tired of hearing (the State Government) say that.

“And, more and more people are leaving the system because of that and that makes it harder to continue to support the workload.”

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary Brett Holmes told the Daily Telegrpah on Monday that while many nurses don’t support industrial action, they are at breaking point.

“We don’t recommend industrial action lightly, especially when a pandemic is still underway, but the status quo can’t continue,” he said.

“We can’t return to pre-Covid staffing levels when we were already in crisis.”

The strike comes at a bad time for the State Government.

On Saturday, former-doctor and Labor candidate for Bega, Michael Holland caused a serious political upset for the State Government by becoming the first ever Labor candidate to win the staunchly conservative seat.

The Moruya-based obstetrician and gynaecologist campaigned on the need for better leadership and commitment to health in the area, and to ensure the promised $260 million, Level 4 Eurobodalla Regional Hospital and HealthOne Batemans Bay would deliver on promised advanced services when they open in coming years.

The NSW government met with nurses’ union representatives in the days leading up to the strike, but failed to secure a deal to end the walk-off.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters Brad Hazzard would sit down with the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association on Monday morning.

“The health minister is actually meeting with the union this morning, and is in regular discussions, and my expectation is that we would reach a resolution,” Mr Perrottet said.

“I look forward to hopefully reaching a resolution – do I expect that to occur by tomorrow? No, but that doesn’t mean we don’t start working to reach that agreement.”

For nurses like Ms Lang, there is doubt the strike will yield meaningful results, but said she is prepared to continue to push for reform.

“We know that this is a long battle,” Ms Lang said.

“The NSW government continues to refuse and negotiate with us.

“Nurses would happily not take a pay increase if we will get ratios.

“So, we feel that the government has no respect for us, and they don‘t respect the opinion of the professionals that work on the floor.

“And its time they listened to us and tomorrow is the day to stand up and be counted.

“Pandemic or not, now is the time to tell them we are not happy, we're not coping, and we need a better health system.”

Mr Hazzard has been approached for comment.