Goulburn and Crookwell nurses gather to back statewide strike

Thousands of nurses across NSW on Tuesday defied an Industrial Relations Commission ruling on Tuesday ordering the Association to call the strike off.

The Association's Goulburn Community Health branch president Rosemary Durbidge said local members had opted not to strike only because there were insufficient staff to manage patient loads. Crookwell Hospital nurses were in the same boat.

READ MORE:

'We will have nothing': Yass nurses to strike as union warns of collapse of local health system

NSW Nurses union calls for staffing relief at Goulburn Base Hospital

Health District CEO acknowledges paramedic use to fill hospital gaps

"I hope the government listens this time because nurses don't go on strike at the drop of a hat. They always put patients first," she said.

"That's the only reason we haven't gone out today - because we simply don't have enough staff."

Mrs Durbidge was also speaking on behalf of Goulburn Base Hospital nurses.

Like her peak body, she called for restoration of nurse to patient ratios. Specifically, the union wants one nurse to three patients in emergency and one nurse to four patients in other parts of the hospital.

"We are making a point that the government has not listened to over many years at the negotiating table about ratios and a reasonable wage increase (2.5 per cent," she said.

"COVID has accentuated what would happen if there was a lack of nurses across the state."

ALSO READ:

Curtains almost ready to rise on premier performance venue

Angella Storrier Real Estate celebrates 18^th

Emergency crews respond to gas leak around old orphanage

At Goulburn, nurses were consistently doing overtime and double shifts. Mrs Durbidge said some managers were completing their day shifts and then doing a further eight hours in wards. In other cases, nurses were working seven days a week.

Southern NSW Local Health District CEO Margaret Bennett told a parliamentary inquiry recently that the District was employing an average 34.8 agency nurses each fortnight to help plug the gaps. But Mrs Durbidge said only "a couple" had been enlisted for Goulburn Base, mainly to check in people at the COVID clinic.

However the facility was receiving some graduate nurses. Mrs Bennett said 80 graduate nurses had been recruited across the District this year and she wanted an equal number or more in 2023.

Mrs Durbidge said Goulburn would receive some of these but it was insufficient to address the long-term problem.

"Nurses are tired and stressed and leaving the sector because they feel they can't do this any longer. We just want the ratios restored," she said.

Seven branches across the District joined the strike. Yass nurses are stopping work for 24 hours and marching down the main street. Association branch president Paul Haines said services had been stripped back so much he feared nothing would be left of the system.

NSWNMA Southern Region organiser Pippa Watts said the action would be "the first of many."

Branches across the state are striking from two hours to 24 hours.

Do you have something to say about this issue? Send a letter to the editor. Click here for the Goulburn Post

Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up below.