‘We need nurses’: Blunt message as ‘exhausted’ nurses rally on south coast

Thousands of nurses, midwives and supporters have rallied across NSW demanding for improved conditions, including rallies in Wollongong and Batemans Bay.

Nurses and midwives turned out in droves at rallies in Wollongong and Batemans Bay, joining thousands of hospital staff throughout the state rallying for improved nursing ratios and a pay increase.

The Illawarra’s NSW Nurse and Midwives representative and chief organiser of the rally in Wollongong’s MacCabe Park, Katrina Bough, told NewsLocal the hundreds in attendance showed how dedicated they were to their profession.

“It’s a fantastic turnout,” Ms Bough said.

“You can tell nurses and midwives are really passionate about what they do and the care that they want the community to have.

“We’ve been left in the wind by the NSW state government, they could not care less about the public they’re elected to represent. I don’t think they believe in public services … if this government had their way everything would be privatised and that’s not Australian and that’s not what people want.

Hundreds of nurses and midwives from Illawarra down to Milton-Ulladulla rallied Wollongong this morning. They are calling for the state government to address the understaffing crisis facing public hospitals. #[e-mail]/kVEqHLktuE

— Dylan Arvela (@dylanarvela) March 31, 2022

“The public are supporting us because they’re the ones who are suffering in emergency departments, they’re the ones laying in their beds waiting for pain relief, they’re the ones who see the nurses trying to hold back their tears when they can’t do the job that they’re paid to do.”

Further south, nurses gathered at Foreshore Park on Clyde St in Batemans Bay, with the rally coming only a month after a shock election result in the state seat of Bega ushered in the region’s first Labor member in former doctor, Michael Holland.

The South East Regional Hospital’s NSWNMA secretary Diana Lang was one of many who bused up from Bega to attend the rally and said nurses there were exhausted and mentally fatigued by the lack of staff.

“We’re all doing double shifts, we’re all doing overtime, we’re all getting messages every day that we need nurses,” Ms Lang said.

“We are frustrated that this current government isn’t listening to us. We work on the floor, we know exactly what we need: we want shift-by-shift ratios introduced to every hospital across NSW.”

South East Regional Hospital mental health ward nurse, Elizabeth Walker, said staffing ratios would make a significant impact on both staff and patient wellbeing.

She warned the impact of time constraints on nurses’ ability to care for patients was “soul destroying” for staff, and sometimes had fatal consequences.

“In every unit, from maternity right to the bottom, their greatest stress is staffing,” Ms Walker said.

“What we see daily is the care that we can’t give people. You’re seeing people leave the unit with issues that haven’t been addressed.

“The tragic fact is we have people that leave the unit that do commit suicide, and to know that… for nurses, that’s there for life. And, that has a ripple effect across the community.”

The current crisis is forcing many staff to reconsider their future in nursing, according to medical ward nurse at the South East Regional Hospital, Georg Schad, who said the ward was a “traumatic, horrifying work environment.”

Wollongong midwife Tracey Ambrose. Picture: Dylan Arvela

Belle Benic and Brooke Parsons of the Wollongong NSWNMA Branch. Picture: Dylan Arvela

“We cannot deliver safe patient care, even in the slightest,” Mr Schad said.

“We are burning to keep other people warm, and we are drowning to keep other people’s heads above the water. We need to let the public know how much we are actually suffering in this profession because it is taking a massive toll on us all.”

Mr Schad warned that staff were being redeployed to other specialties they weren’t familiar with because of staff shortages, further adding to their stress and as a result. He said that with a “heavy heart” he was urging people to reconsider a career in nursing or midwifery.

“When people ask me about nursing, because I know a lot of people would make fantastic nurses, but the way the current system is, I wouldn‘t recommend nursing to anyone,” he said.

A representative from NSW Labor delivered a message from Mr Holland in Batemans Bay, stating that the Labor leader shared and witnessed the experiences of his nursing and midwifery colleagues.

But when called upon to make a commitment that NSW Labor would implement staffing ratios if elected, the representative fell silent.

The future of the region’s health services loomed large over Mylene and Fitzroy Boulding, who are founding members of the One Eurobodalla community group which campaigned for the new Eurobodalla Hospital.

“We all understand a hospital is not just bricks and mortar,” Mrs Boulding told nurses.

“We do not want a beautiful empty box with a lovely large carpark. We want a functional hospital with the right contingent of staff, and with no ward closed because of staff shortages.”

“We have a message for the premier and the minister for health: stop the talk. Show us what you really think of nurses through action. Increase nurses and midwives wages now, no ifs and buts.”

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Among the crowd back in Wollongong were a large contingent of nurses and midwives from Nowra and as far south as Milton-Ulladulla who were desperate to make their voices heard.

“There were about 39 on the bus (from Nowra) and there are others who made their own way up,” Nowra nurse Lisa Chesters said.

“We’re here because every ward you go to nurses are exhausted. They’re not getting enough time in the day to do their work and provide the adequate patient care that they want.

“The stress was already there, but Covid has exacerbated everything. We feel underappreciated, unheard and undervalued and we just want the public to be aware that some has got to give before we lose more skilled and valuable workers who are being pushed out by this crisis.”

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.