With understaffing leading to missed patient care and staff exhaustion, hundreds of nurses and midwives at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals in Melbourne continue their rolling stop work protected industrial action across morning, afternoon and night shifts. Their goal: to secure more nurses and midwives in their ongoing fight for safer staffing levels.
Theatre and recovery nurses joined the stop work action on Wednesday by refusing to work the afternoon surgery session. Emergency, emergency caesarean, paediatric, neurology, oncology and palliative surgeries are excluded.
ANMF Victorian Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence said nurses and midwives are “escalating their action as a last resort because management is not listening and responding to their concerns.”
“We know safe staffing saves lives, reduces patient re-admission and is a cost-effective way of preventing understaffing and maintaining a stable permanent early career and experienced nursing and midwifery workforce,” Ms Harradence said.
“St. Vincent's Private must stop relying on understaffing to prop up its financials at the cost of burning through its exhausted nursing and midwifery workforce.”
“We apologise for delaying patients' surgery, and we reassure all patients that their health, safety and welfare will not be at risk while our members campaign for better staffing and improved patient safety.” the ANMF said.
ANMF and St Vincent's Private Hospitals management are scheduled to meet on Thursday, 19 December for the first time since 29 November, despite repeated requests by the ANMF.
Read more: ANMF - St Vincent's Campaign updates