Nurse-to-patient ratios,along with increased pay,are central to the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association demands from the government,which has resulted in statewide industrial action with more strikes likely.
Union officials have stressed that,while they are pushing for a 4.75 per cent pay claim,they are prioritising a demand for one nurse per four patients. Labor has taken a staff ratio policy for nurses to two state elections.
Loading
Nurses and midwives walked off the job on March 31,which followed industrial action by teachers and rail workers. The NSW government is under significant pressure to lift its wage cap of 2.5 per cent in its June budget.
Less than a year after supporting an upper house motion to mandate nursing ratios,Labor MPs backflipped as part of their response to a parliamentary inquiry focused on NSW’s troubled rural and regional hospitals.
Theinquiry into the state’s country hospitals,which exposed shocking allegations of dysfunction within the health system,will table its report to parliament on Thursday.
Committee members Greens MP Cate Faehrmann and Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst proposed that the inquiry recommend mandated staffing levels in regional and rural hospitals. Labor voted against their motions.