Next week, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation (ANMF) – ACT branch will present a petition to the Legislative Assembly, sponsored by Greens MLA Johnathan Davis, calling for a Recovery plan for nurses and midwives, and hold an Action Day Rally outside the Assembly, highlighting ongoing problems in the health system and nursing midwivery workforce.
The petition states that they are on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic; that they are confronted with increased workload and other pressures; and that the pandemic has worsened workplace issues: lack of proper workforce planning; chronic staff shortages, skill-mix issues, and excessive overtime; burnout, stress, fatigue, and poor psychosocial wellbeing; and worsening workplace culture, including poor morale.
“Nurses and midwives have had enough of doing more and more work with the same or fewer hands to do that work,” branch secretary Matthew Daniel said. “They’re not getting away to do their education and maintain up-to-date skills and knowledge. They are doing excessive overtime. The skill mix isn’t good, so the nurses and midwives they are getting aren’t having the supports they need to provide them with a safe work environment in which they can learn and feel valued by the organisation. Those things existed before, and they are even worse at the moment.”
The petition calls on the ACT government to develop and facilitate a recovery plan for nurses and midwives, focused on their health and wellbeing, which includes better workforce planning, workplace safety, wellbeing initiatives, and workplace culture.
“Nurses and midwives are hearing from the government that the government understands that the situation is really dire in healthcare,” Mr Daniel said. “What nurses and midwives aren’t seeing is a clear plan from the government that addresses the workforce and culture issues.”
As a priority, he wants the government to improve recruitment and retention and stop health professionals leaving the system.
“Nurses and midwives would have reasonable workloads; patients would get the safe care they should expect to receive; it will reduce the burden and moral distress on nurses and midwives; and we’re likely to keep them.
“We can’t expect to keep new nurses and midwives in the system if they don’t feel supported and they don’t have access to more experienced staff.”
The ANMF also wanted the ACT Government to better plan the recovery from the pandemic; in Mr Daniel’s opinion, their planning was reactive.
After the most recent National Cabinet meeting on 16 July, Mr Daniel noted, the ACT Government stated that COVID, combined with flu and other respiratory illnesses, put pressure on the health system, and encouraged the public to help flatten the curve by getting vaccinated, testing for COVID-19, working from home if necessary, and wearing masks.
“That’s not a plan for addressing the pandemic if it’s going to be with us for a number of years,” Mr Daniel said.
ACT Government response
“The ACT Government recognises the current situation for the health workforce in the ACT, as in all jurisdictions, is incredibly difficult and has been difficult throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesperson said.
The ACT Government will work with all unions through the Enterprise Agreement negotiations to provide a wage increase, to recognise all public sector workforces that have worked incredibly hard during the pandemic for their work at the frontline and in supporting roles, the spokesperson said.
This will benefit all health workers, including nurses, midwives, and assistants in nursing in the public sector, the spokesperson said.
The government had been planning for the health workforce, ensuring workplace safety for nurses and midwives, and meeting mandated minimum nurse/midwife-patient ratios, wellbeing initiatives, and workplace culture before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The ANMF was involved in all this work, including as members of key decision-making committees, the spokesperson said.
