“Experienced nurses and midwives are either dropping their working hours or worse,leaving the system altogether.”
Chris Minns
The $175 million policy would be designed to maintain safe nursing or midwifery staffing levels on a shift-by-shift basis,based on an area of care or speciality type,as well as treatment spaces or beds.
Safe staffing levels would start in emergency departments and would then be rolled out into other areas including ICUs,maternity wards and multipurpose services in a staged approach and in consultation with healthcare professionals.
Nurse-to-patient ratios,along with increased pay,have been central to the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association demands of the government,which has resulted in statewide industrial action.
Labor this week also committed to an additional 500 paramedics in regional and rural NSW.
Labor has taken a staff ratio policy for nurses to two state elections butdecided in May not to support an upper house inquiry recommendation to mandate increased staffing levels.
NSW Health currently uses a patient ratio system of “nursing hours per patient day”,which was introduced following strikes under the previous Labor government.