Health department denies claims its losing a nurse a day

After the Mercury analysed government data which showed a loss of 74 nurses over the past four months the health department has revealed its own calculations disputing the figures.

ANMF Tasmania Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd. Picture: Stephanie Dalton

Staff shortages in Tasmania’s health system are having a negative impact on remaining workers, Department of Health acting secretary Dale Webster has admitted, but he said recruitment was still ahead of turnover.

“I think it would impact some people, I have to be completely honest,” Mr Webster said.

“Which is why we need to make sure that we are matching our resources to what is actually happening in each of our areas and why we use agency nurses and locum doctors to fill in those gaps.”

Department of Health acting secretary Dale Webster speaks to the media about ANMF claims. Picture: Elise Kaine.

The Mercury on Saturday reported a net loss of 74 nurses over four months.

The analysis of data gathered from the Tasmanian Government Gazette found over the 121-day period, there was a the departure of 105 nurses, while 31 were hired.

The department has since responded with payroll data, which it said showed a net gain of 26 nurses.

Mr Webster said the department figures from the same period showed 166 commencements and 140 departures.

He said the difference was because some of the roles may not have needed to be advised through the gazette, or may have been advised to the gazette during a different time period.

Mr Webster said the department’s turnover rate this year was at 11 per cent, which is on the lower end of the 10-15 per cent usual turnover.

He denied vacancy measurement controls were putting jobs on the “chopping block”.

Mr Webster said the measures were designed to improve the process of recruitment and out of 2000 jobs reviewed only eight had been identified as no longer needed.

“The faster we recruit a nurse, the less we have to pay the agency nurses to fill that shift,” he said.

In total, from April 27, 2024 to July 27, 2024 the department had 568 commencements and in the same period there have been 436 departures from the department.

These numbers do not include the backfilling of roles with agency nurses and locum doctors.

He said the high turnover rate was due to a range of issues but staff shortages do have an impact on some remaining staff.

Health department says it is ‘business as usual’ for hospital despite ANMF claims

Staff shortages and a claims beds have been closed at a major Tasmanian hospital have become a point of contention between the state’s health department and nursing union.

On Friday afternoon, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation (ANMF) Tasmanian branch secretary Emily Shepherd said that the Department of Health had closed up to 15 beds.

Less than two hours later, a Department of Health spokesperson said that ANMF Tasmania’s claims were untrue.

“All treatment points in the Emergency Department remain open,” a spokesman said.

“While some nursing shifts were vacant due to unplanned sick leave, the LGH is engaging agency nurses along with nurses from other hospitals to fill these vacancies.”

Launceston General Hospital. Picture: Amber Wilson

However, on Saturday, Ms Shepherd stuck by the claims she made the previous day.

“Despite the department claiming that no beds were closed, there were indeed beds closed or ‘flexed down’ as staff were told to describe them,” she said.

“There was an overflowing waiting room, and nursing staff were extremely fearful about what would happen if more than one patient presentation occurred under resuscitation with so few staff.”

Ms Shepherd also said that 18 staff were working at the LGH Emergency Department (ED) on Saturday morning, seven short of the industrially agreed minimum.

However, the Department of Health Acting Secretary Dale Webster said it was “business as usual” for the hospital.

“This weekend, we have a particular issue with unplanned sick leave. It is winter; we have flu, Covid and RSV circulating in the community,” Mr Webster said.

“We have had a number of staff redeployed from other areas, including the Royal Hobart Hospital, to the LGH ED during the weekend.”

Mr Webster said denied claims beds were being closed.

“It’s not a case that they’re closed. If we need them, we’ll make them available,” he said.

In response to his comments, Ms Shepard said that even though it might be the case, there were not enough staff members to care for the patients in those beds.

She also dismissed Mr Webster’s assertion that it was “business as usual” at the LGH ED.

“Whilst services might still be delivered in the emergency department, it’s only being delivered through the goodwill of staff who are basically picking up additional workload and working themselves into the ground in order to ensure that service delivery is able to be maintained,” Ms Shepherd said.

Nearly one nurse per day leaving state health system

David Killick

August 3, 5am: Nurses are departing the state’s public health system at a rate three times faster than they are being hired, a Mercury analysis has revealed.

Over the last four months the state’s public health system lost nearly one nurse a day and recruited two per week.

Health Minister Guy Barnett on Friday spruiked a public health hiring spree, claiming the government had stepped up the hiring of nurses since late April.

“Government continues its largest ever health recruitment blitz, employing 560 new health workers since late April, 162 of which are nurses – almost two a day,” he said.

Health Minister Guy Barnett at the RHH. Picture: Chris Kidd

But a Mercury analysis of four months worth of staff movements recorded in the Tasmanian Government Gazette paints a different picture.

The official record for the 121-day period reveal the hiring of 31 nurses and the departure of 105 — for a net loss of 74.

The Government Gazette shows in the period from the beginning of April to the end of July, 75 registered nurses quit the public health system and 21 were appointed.

Eight enrolled nurses left and five were hired; six nurse unit managers or assistant nurse unit managers left and two were hired; and one clinical nurse consultant arrived as 11 left.

Figures provided by the Department of Health record 162 nurse commencements between April 27 and July 26, although no indication of departures.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation on Friday claimed 15 bed closures in the Launceston General Hospital emergency department, which Mr Barnett described as “untrue”, “misleading” and “exaggerated”.

“The beds are being closed because there are not enough staff,” ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd said.

“Our members are exhausted and scared.

“They are so fed up with a situation that neither the Tasmanian Health Service of State Government have seen fit to neither alleviate nor put in place adequate resourcing strategies.”

Labor health spokeswoman Ella Haddad said the state’s health system was stretched.

“Health workers are under such enormous pressure, with the health system so understaffed that conditions are the most stressful they’ve been.

“The Government is claiming a recruitment blitz, but ignoring the number of people who are leaving the system, at alarming rates.

“Many workers are also reducing their hours, going part time due to how stressful their working conditions are.”