Mar 25 2008
The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) met today with Queensland Health officials to discuss working conditions for medics working in the Torres Strait and other remote communities.
The QNU has threatened a 'stop work' of all of its members in the region unless security for those working in the Torres Strait is improved.
The union's demand that broken locks, security lighting and alarms are fixed at 11 clinics on a number of islands by Friday, follows the alleged rape of a nurse in the Torres Strait last month.
The incident has led to the revelation of a number of other cases where medics safety has been jeopardised by working conditions in remote communities.
The responsibility for improving health facilities in the region has been handed to QBuild and embattled Queensland Health Minister Stephen Robertson will visit the area for the second time in seven days to monitor the progress.
The QNU says however if basic safety measures are not improved it will remove health workers - this will leave leave a number of Torres Strait islands without medical care.
The QNU is also demanding that in future nurses work in two's or three's in remote regions.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh's hope that "commonsense will prevail" and nurses will not pull out, is regarded by many as overly optimistic, particularly as she is unable to guarantee that all problems will be fixed by March 28th.
Some in the legal profession are already warning that the Queensland Government is leaving itself wide open to costly litigation if it does not improve safety for nurses working in the Torres Straits.
Lawyers say if a nurse is attacked and raped and then suffers serious psychological damage which affects their career, then the claim for damages could be enormous.