Nurses industrial action continues at RPA

NURSES at Newtown’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA) have vowed to continue industrial action which saw the closure of 24 beds if concerns about staffing ratios are not addressed.

The closures are part of protests  across NSW which have seen over 451 hospital beds sidelined across the state.

Acting secretary of the NSW Nurses’ Association Judith Kiejda said more beds will continue to be closed each day unless the government commits to mandated care ratios of one to four like those used in Victoria.

“This is our last-ditch effort to get the government to understand that there is something inherently wrong with the health system,” she said.

Ms Kiejda said the union was left with no alternative after the Health Department declined to meet a recommendation by the Industrial Relations Commission that it respond to the association’s claim in writing by January 13.

“I know it’s an expensive ask but we need more nurses to do the job,” she said.

“The people of NSW deserve to be cared for properly when they go to hospital.”

But NSW Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt said NSW nurses were among the highest paid in the country.

“The Government wants to continue to have good faith discussions with the Nurses’ Association, but the Government is not able to do that in an environment of industrial action,” she said.

“Since the end of 1999 nurses salaries in NSW had increased by around 57 per cent and there had been an increase of around 10 per cent in the number of nurses working in NSW hospitals since 2005.”

She said she had concerns about mandated patient-to-nurse ratios because they lacked flexibility needed to staff a modern hospital.

“Not every hospital or every hospital ward is the same and not all patients require the same kind of care,” she said.

“The Government understands that workload is an important issue for the Nurses Association and we are eager to continue our discussions around that issue.”

Hospital beds are routinely closed during holiday periods by the Health Department and nurses’ union has decided to keep one in four of them shut in protest.

The closures do not affect beds in emergency, intensive care, paediatrics, maternity or oncology wards.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW has called on the government to meet the recommendation.

Opposition health spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the government had closed more than 2,000 hospital beds and cut hundreds of nurse positions.

“The simple fact is Labor has cut the number of public hospital beds since coming into office in 1995,” she said.

While she would not commit to nurse to patient ratios she said a coalition government would provide more nurses.

By Simon Black