Thousands of public hospital nurses are walking off the job in NSW, saying they are stretched too thin to give the care their patients deserve, especially in a pandemic.
The planned industrial action on Tuesday by those at the front line of patient care is the first of its kind in nearly a decade.
They are upset with the state government for not implementing minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, as per systems in Queensland and Victoria.
They are also seeking a pay rise above the government’s 2.5 per cent cap in recognition of their pandemic workloads, marked by increasing and more complex work.
“It’s inhumane what is expected of us,” said Nicole Richardson, a registered nurse and midwife who works at Gosford Hospital, north of Sydney.
“We are not cuddling babies. We are trained, professional nurses and midwives trying to work in a broken system.”
The length of the industrial action will vary across hospitals and skeleton staff will remain at work to meet urgent patient care. The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association expects the strike to impact 150 public hospitals.
Paramedics are also planning industrial action this week.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has said the patient ratios the union wants aren’t effective, and said that system hadn’t worked well in other states.
He has accused the nurses association of playing “old union games” and has called on their representatives to negotiate without taking industrial action.
Some hospital workers, like those at Byron Central Hospital, support the strike but won’t leave their nurses’ stations over concerns they already don’t have enough staff to provide the required care.
Liz McCall, a senior nurse at Byron Central and a union delegate, said the difficult work conditions had prompted many nurses to become politically active for the first time.
She said many senior nurses had resigned or retired early during the COVID-19 pandemic because of their workloads, leaving a major gap in nursing experience.
“We can’t provide the care we want to give – it’s really scary,” said Ms McCall, who has been a registered nurse for more than 40 years.
“The pandemic has exacerbated what was already happening in our service.”
The union was issued with an order to stop its strike action late on Monday, after NSW Health and the government sought assistance from the Industrial Relations Commission.
A spokesperson for NSW Health said the strike would “cause disruptions and delays to health services”.
However the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association said it would be going ahead with its industrial action and would not follow the orders.
“The NSWNMA Council supports the decision of our branches to take industrial action statewide,” general secretary Brett Holmes said.
“The strike and rallies will go ahead, as we are unable to comply with the orders.”
© AAP 2022
