The NSW nurses’ go on strike today (Wednesday) calling for improved nurse-to-patient ratios and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) has spoken up in their support. However the AMA does not support their decision to strike in defiance of the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC). The strike is taking place despite an IRC order the union call off the strike and government pleas for it to return to the negotiating table.
According to AMA NSW president Michael Steiner the issue of nurse-to-patient ratios was something doctors could easily feel just as deep. “Doctors are well aware of the problems facing the health professionals they work alongside every day and how they impact the patients they treat… While the AMA (NSW) notes that the IRC has recommended against the Nurses’ Association taking strike action, it acknowledges ratios would not only benefit nurses but also the patients they serve,” the AMA said in a statement.
The NSW Nurses’ Association is calling for a major overhaul of the state’s public hospital and healthcare system and demanding a ratio of one nurse to four patients Up to 190 hospitals across the state are jeopardized with the strike. Hospital wards will be reduced to night duty staffing levels and elective surgery will be cancelled, but emergency departments will remain open as normal.
Dr Steiner said, “A hospital that is understaffed, (or) does not have the right mix of staff, or where the health professionals are fatigued due to working unsafe hours is not going to be able to provide the best level of patient care it otherwise could.”
Nurses’ Association general secretary Brett Holmes said, “NSW nurses and midwives are determined to win safer patient care through mandated, minimum nurse-to-patient ratios that cannot be tampered with by hospital and health service managers.” The Nurses’ Association will hold a special general meeting of members at the Sydney Olympic Sports Centre, in Homebush, at 11.30am today.
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