Nurses halt bed closure to consider Government’s offer

NSW nurses have gone back to work during consideration of an offer made by the State Government last Wednesday.

Last week nurses reopened the more than 570 hospital beds they had shut during industrial action aimed at achieving a ratio of one nurse to every four patients.

The move came in response to an offer made by the government during negotiations at the Industrial Relations Committee.

But acting secretary of the NSW Nurses’ Association, Judith Kieja, said the offer would need to address several key areas if it was to be accepted.

“We had a committee meeting last night where the secretary explained in depth what is on offer,” she told City News on Wednesday.

“There are components well worth considering.

“But there are several areas, such as community health, mental health and emergency which need to be looked at.”

Ms Kieja said the skill mix at larger facilities also needed to be examined.

“The general secretary has sent the offer away for a week to see what they can do with it,” she said.

“And then a decision will be made.”

While the four to one ratio is currently the standard in Victoria, and has been for almost 10 years, NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, said they were too inflexible to be adopted in NSW.

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

Ms Kiejda said the action was a “last ditch” effort to make the government understand staff were stretched to breaking point.

“There is something inherently wrong with the health system,” she said.

“We need more nurses to do the job…the people of NSW deserve to be cared for properly when they go to hospital.”

While the details of the offer have not been made public the health department has described them as “fair and reasonable.”

Industrial regulation in NSW requires that negotiations can’t take place during industrial action.

By Simon Black