TWO beds will be closed on the surgical ward at Goulburn Base Hospital while two beds in the Intensive Care Unit will remain closed until management can fully address the hospital’s staffing problems.
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The NSW Nurses Association said its local members had achieved a number of positive staffing initiatives in recent weeks but that the hospital’s surgical ward was still struggling. As a result, two beds will be closed indefinitely to better align bed and nurse numbers, reducing current numbers from 20 down to 18.
“When those beds are emptied, ie the patients have been discharged, they will remain available for emergency admission but as a result of staffing levels and the skill mix of staff available it is not appropriate to maintain these beds open in the interests of safe patient care,” NSWNA general secretary Brett Holmes said.
“At the moment the ward is struggling for staff and has an inadequate skills mix for the serious nature of much of the surgery being conducted at the hospital. For example, the ward is heavily reliant on second year registered nurses. These nurses are also often left in charge of numerous agency nurses who are not always familiar with the ward.
“That is, the surgical ward still has a significant shortage of experienced, permanent nurses, in a setting where many patients are recovering from quite complex surgery, including full knee replacements and the like. This is, frankly, a risky scenario for the patients and nursing staff alike and only when a safer staffing profile is provided should the full 20 beds be used.”
The Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) would not comment on what impact the bed closures would have on the performance of elective surgeries at the hospital, instead saying that patient demand and required staffing was assessed daily.
The Association said hospital management was making an effort to resolve the staffing shortages and that a number of positive outcomes had been achieved, including weekly meetings with the NSWNA branch to assess workloads; closing two intensive care beds until an extra nurse is recruited in late December; supporting the appointment of a clinical nurse educator for the medical-surgical wards; and a strong advertising campaign to fill current nurse and midwife vacancies.
SNSWLHD director of nursing and midwifery Tania Dufty the recruitment process was ongoing and that positions would soon be filled.
“Adverts have been in the Goulburn Post, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times,” she said.
“An additional two Clinical Nurse Educator positions have been created on top of the four existing Clinical Nurse Educator positions at Goulburn Base Hospital to support the 15 Transitional Registered Nurses who have accepted positions in Goulburn during the regular intake in February 2012.
“Goulburn is a popular career choice for transitional nurses and the additional educational support has made Goulburn more attractive for nursing staff.
“National and international advertising has been successful with an overseas trained nurse recently starting employment at Goulburn Base Hospital and another two starting early next year. In the meantime, experienced agency staff are covering vacant nursing positions.
“In addition, an experienced surgical nurse is looking to commence employment in Goulburn prior to Christmas.”
Ms Dufty said recruitment was continuing in the area seeking experienced agency nurses to work in hospital’s ICU and anticipated all vacancies in the unit would be filled in the first quarter of next year. In regards to the surgical ward, SNSWLHD is staffing to the Nurses Award requirements.
Three experienced surgical nurses have been recruited and are expected to commence employment in the first quarter of 2012. They anticipate all vacancies in the surgical ward will be filled in the first quarter of 2012.
SNSWLHD says emergency services will not be affected by the bed closures and that they would continue to maintain healthy dialogue with the NSW Nurses Association to safeguard against similar staff shortages in the future.