NSW Health Minister Ryan Park ruled out using federal funding to offer nurses better pay deal

The use of federal funding to put forward a better pay offer for NSW nurses has been ruled out by the state’s health minister.

Using federal funding to come up with a better pay offer for NSW nurses has been ruled out, just one day after union members gathered to demand increased pay in line with other states.

Members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) on Wednesday gathered to demand the government direct new money to ensure nurses and midwives get fair and equal pay in line with other states, claiming the workforce was leaving for better paid jobs in the private sector and interstate.

Addressing budget estimates on Thursday, NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said he hadn’t improved the wage offer of 10.5 per cent over three years following the federal government’s recent announcement of $1.7bn to fund public hospitals.

“No, I haven’t, and I want to be very clear about this … but I’ll be just very transparent that money can not and will not be used for that,” Mr Park said.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said he needed to ‘get onto’ addressing pressure on emergency departments ‘big time’. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

He said it was “one-off” money, and that there was “equal strong advocacy for other parts of the healthcare sector and profession” for remuneration increases.

“So what I would be doing is essentially saying... you could have this amount for essentially one year while your wages are adjusted, and then it has to go back, because there’s not a flow on. We did not secure a five-year deal,” Mr Park said.

He also said the federal money hadn’t yet “hit our bank account”.

“That will primarily flow through to staff through hospital activity, as you know that’s what it will largely result in,” Mr Park said.

“About 65 cents in every dollar that we fund in hospital activity goes to staffing related costs, and the largest proportion of that is obviously nursing, so there is a number of reasons why we can’t just do that.”

Mr Park said a better GST deal from the Commonwealth could help, as well as a five-year national health reform agreement rather than the one year offered.

NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) gathered to demand higher pay on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Nurses wage cap set out ‘big gaps’: Park

Mr Park was on Thursday asked about whether NSW nurses being the second lowest paid in the country could contribute to a challenge in filling vacant positions following the launch of the government’s safe staffing levels initiative, which aimed to bring in more nurses at hospitals under minimum staffing levels.

“I’ve been clear, I think having a wage cap in place for 12 years has seen big gaps set out,” Mr Park said.

“One of the reasons we moved very quickly last year to remove the wages cap was to try and start the process of rebuilding.”

He said he wouldn’t sit back and say the previous government’s cap didn’t have an impact.

“It’s my accountability and my job now to try and resolve that,” he said.

“We haven’t got that issue resolved yet. We remain in discussions with the Nurses and Midwives Association, I met with them a few days ago.

“We’ll continue to have those discussions, it’s in the Industrial Relations Commission. We’re not resolved yet, but we remain at the table.”

When asked whether he was happy with the progress of the safe staffing levels initiative, Mr Park said he wanted it to be rolled out “faster”.

“Well probably those who know me know that patience is not one of my strengths, so I always want it to go faster,” Mr Park said.

Mr Park ruled out better pay offer for nurses following announcement of federal funding for public hospitals. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

He said recruitment of healthcare workers was a challenge at a state, national and global level.

“We are moving at a fairly rapid rate, and I will continue to personally drive it as hard as I possibly can.”

Mr Park was earlier accused of “cherry picking” after releasing health data on the busiest hospitals in the state on Thursday morning ahead of estimates proceedings.

The data highlighted improvements to treatment times across the busiest emergency departments in the state, including Liverpool ED, where the average treatment time for triage 2 emergency patients halved from 18 minutes to nine minutes over the last year.

However, the data’s release just hours before estimates kicked off was slammed by Liberal MP Natalie Ward, who accused Mr Park of “cherry picking” data.

She pointed out the statistics shared were positive and claimed the Bureau of Health Information data was not released in full to the public.

“I don’t know if it’s cherry picking, it’s NSW Health data,” Mr Park said.

“This is data that’s NSW Health data that’s released every three months.”

It’s understood the data was a snapshot from December last year, but the BHI will release the data in full.

He said the BHI released data every three months.

NSW Health last year agreed to a three per cent wage increase for nurses following recommendations from the Industrial Relations Commission. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

“What I’ve chosen to do, because I want to dive into the data and where some of our busiest hospitals in the state are performing …” Mr Park said, adding that he wasn’t suggesting there wasn’t room for improvement.

“I’ll continue to release data, there are plenty of days in this portfolio where things don’t go as you like, that’s also an area where I front up,” he said.

“I also need to acknowledge the work of health staff in these really busy hospitals who are making a pretty massive difference in terms of their efforts.

“When I have data … I don’t think it hurts to give that staff a pat on the back.”

He said the availability of primary care was not as robust as it may have been when his generation was younger.

“There was an assumption people could access GPs, and bulk-billing GPs locally, close to home … that’s not the case,” he said.

He said people were presenting to ED’s “sicker”.

“I’ve got to get onto that big time,” he said.

Mr Park said more people needed to be seen outside of hospitals, hence why the government had invested into ED relief via alternative pathways.

Originally published as NSW Health Minister Ryan Park ruled out using federal funding to offer nurses better pay deal