Wagga members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association protest outside the Wagga Base Hospital for a better nurse-to-patient ratio. Photo: Shri Gayathirie Rajen.
Wagga’s nurses and midwives have walked off the job for the third time this year, calling for better nurse-to-patient ratios and fair pay.
Dozens of health workers took a stand outside Wagga Base Hospital, brandishing placards to a chorus of car horns from supportive commuters travelling along Edward Street.
The local members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) joined colleagues across the state in demanding urgent action to save a system that they say is at a breaking point.
“I’m sick of having to work like a dog all the time!” shouted a nurse on a megaphone to calls of agreement from her fellows.
“I don’t even get to go to the toilet!”
“So what do we want?” went the call.
“Ratios!” came the reply.
The nurse-to-patient ratio is one of the chief concerns of the NSWNMA which wants a higher proportion of nurses to ensure a safe level of care and decrease the risk of poor patient outcomes and unnecessary deaths.
Without the right ratios, they say patients across NSW are missing out on thousands of hours of much-needed nursing care.
Victoria and Queensland have written nurse-to-patient ratios into law and their NSW counterparts are calling on the State Government and Premier Dominic Perrottet to do the same.
Wagga Hospital ICU registered nurse (RN) Tessa Matthews moved from Queensland and said it felt like she’d moved 10 years into the past.
“Patient safety is at risk every shift now and I feel like the community doesn’t realise how bad the situation is,” Ms Matthews said.
“It puts a lot of stress and pressure on nurses.
“We have nurses leaving in droves and considering other careers … every shift wondering why we’re doing this anymore.”
She said the nurses would rather be working and providing the best care for patients, but feel undermined by a hospital system that is failing.
“We don’t have the resources and the ability to do the job we want to do.”
Wagga hospital RN Alyssa Nesire said the working conditions made it hard for the nurses to remain motivated.
“It’s so difficult to get anything out of our [State] Government,” Ms Nesire said.
“It is easier to consider changing careers than to fight and push the Government to give us better conditions so we can keep our patients safe.
“We’re losing a huge amount of experience from our nursing staff and our patients don’t deserve that.”
She said taxpayers deserve the quality care they are paying for.
RN Sharnie Burton agreed, adding that nurses are completely burnt out, frustrated and tired.
“It’s really unfair that NSW taxpayers are receiving substandard healthcare because we’re not being funded,” Ms Burton said.
“We don’t have the ratios and we’ve got nurses leaving in droves for better employment.”
Wagga’s Labor Councillor Dan Hayes also attended the protest in support of the nurses and said the Government was ignoring their calls for help.
“I don’t know what it will take for this Government to finally wake up … there’s a crisis in the health system,” Cr Hayes said.
“The nurses and other health workers need support, not just for their sake but for patients in our communities.
“It’s pretty simple and the Government is not supporting it so they should get out of the way and let someone that will.”
The Victorian Government has announced plans to pay the entire HECS debt for more than 10,000 nursing and midwifery graduates to help boost Victoria’s strained health system.
Cr Hayes said he would like to see NSW follow suit and see more students attracted to the nursing degrees at Charles Sturt University.
“NSW has got to be competitive. Queensland, ACT and Victoria all have ratios and NSW doesn’t,” he said. “That’s because of the Government we have.”
The Victorian scheme will see the Government invest $270 million over two years, offering nursing and midwifery students scholarships of $16,500 from 2023.
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