Ms ROSOL (Bass) – Honourable Speaker, I rise on adjournment to express my support for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), who yesterday began industrial action over the diabolical staffing levels at the LGH on the weekend. Despite the increased transfer of care of patients at the Launceston General Hospital, there has been no increase in staff, and it has resulted in a growing number of patients in the waiting rooms and corridors.
On Saturday, hospital staff said that only 18 nurses were working in the emergency department, which is seven less than the minimum number required. It is unsafe for both patients and staff. The ANMF says this is a code yellow – an internal emergency which is affecting their ability to care for patients.
How the Department of Health acting secretary, Dale Webster, can describe this as ‘business as usual’ is beyond me. Yes, it is ‘business as usual’ for people to get sick in winter from the flu, COVID and RSV, but what is not ‘business as usual’ is not having people to fill those vacancies.
The government’s response to this? The minister for Health told nurses to ‘get a grip’, and this government continues to deny the reality of the crisis in our healthcare system. Nurses are reporting significant burnout from this understaffing. Requiring nurses to travel from other hospitals to the LGH to fill these staffing vacancies on top of their regular workload is contributing to that.
How much did bringing in nurses tell the LGH from around the state cost us, I wonder? I also wonder about the cost of agency nurses to fill the vacancies left. Nurses are leaving the profession in alarming rates, according to the ANMF, who say we are losing a nurse a day. From the end of April to the end of July, 436 people left the healthcare system. This is an incredibly high turnover of staff, and all jobs which will not be replaced under the government’s vacancy controls.
Yesterday, this House supported the Saputo workers in their calls for pay parity with their mainland counterparts. Lack of pay parity is also rife in other areas of Tasmania, including the healthcare sector. It is no wonder there are alarming rates of nurses and other healthcare workers leaving the profession.
It is not just the LGH. Things are not going well at the Royal either. The Royal Hobart Hospital emergency upgrades are being underfunded by $19 million. This will mean the facility will not be fit for purpose to meet current needs, let alone future needs. On top of this, the Royal Hobart Hospital has instituted a procedure to train associate nurse unit managers to pat down patients. This is not within the duties of nurses and midwives, and it poses a serious risk to their safety. It is simple cost cutting, and it undermines the therapeutic relationship between nurses and their patients. Whenever there are cuts to essential public services, there are real consequences for real people.
Statistics revealed under the Right to Information Act showed that there are people who have been waiting to see a specialist for more than eleven years, despite the fact they should have been seen within three months. There are people who should have been seen within 30 days, but it has taken five-and-a-half years for them to see a specialist. Dozens of patients have waited more than 10 hours for an ambulance. At least eight patients have waited more than 20 hours, with wait times topping out at 23 hours. The average wait time has increased from 8.8 minutes 10 years ago to 15.1 minutes last year – that is almost a doubling.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Government has heard the calls for pay increases from their nurses and midwives. Yesterday, they committed to increasing funding for the healthcare system by $1.5 billion, which will benefit those workers.
With the Budget coming up, the Rockliff government has the chance to follow the Victorian government’s lead and support health workers to increase staffing levels, to provide them with the resources they need and facilities that are fit for purpose. We must support them as they continue to care for those in the Tasmanian community who are vulnerable and unwell. That is what the Tasmanian community wants, not a billion-dollar stadium.
