Wagga Base Hospital will soon have a better nurse-to-patient ratio after it was announced this week it would be introducing the Safe Staffing Levels initiative. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
A new NSW Government initiative to provide better nurse-to-patient ratios will soon be rolled out at Wagga Base Hospital.
The Safe Staffing Levels initiative aims for NSW hospitals to have a minimum number of staff members on shift at all times to provide better relief for staff and care of patients.
In a statement, Minister for Health Ryan Park said the new initiative would provide a “staffing boost of frontline healthcare workers” at 12 additional hospitals across the state including Wagga Base Hospital.
The statement says the boost will enable hospitals to have a “one-to-one nursing care ratio for generally occupied emergency department resuscitation beds on all shifts, and one nurse to three generally occupied ED treatment spaces and ED short-stay unit beds on all shifts”.
The Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce, which includes key leaders from the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA), NSW Health, and local health districts, will continue to work through the preparations to determine the full-time equivalent (FTE) required to deliver Safe Staffing Levels at these sites over coming weeks and months.
Phase one of Safe Staffing Levels is initially commencing in Level 5 and Level 6 EDs, which treat the most critically ill patients, and will then be progressively implemented across other hospitals and departments. The Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce will continue to oversee the rollout of the government’s commitment of 2480 FTE over four years (to June 2027) towards staffing levels.
Other measures the NSW Government will be embracing over the coming months include:
- Saving 1112 nurse and midwife positions by making the roles permanent
- Abolishing the wage cap and delivering the highest pay increase in over a decade for nurses and other health workers
- Beginning rolling out 500 additional paramedics in regional, rural and remote communities; and
- Introducing the health worker study subsidies scheme.
NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park said the introduction of the Safe Staffing Levels initiative would result in more nurses employed in hospitals across the state.
“The rollout began earlier this year at Liverpool, Royal North Shore, Port Macquarie Base and Lismore Base hospitals and I’m thrilled we’re now onto the next 12 sites that will see implementation commence over coming months,” he said.
“Importantly, this reform will deliver improved nursing numbers to provide care for patients while supporting our frontline healthcare staff.
“I look forward to working with representatives from the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association and NSW Health as part of the Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce as they review the rollout and use these experiences to help inform safe staffing levels implementation at future sites.”
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