Have your Say

Letter Of The Month

The Voice - it just makes sense

The Voice, not the singing competition but the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to parliament, is something very personal to me.

My name is Roslyn Lockhart and I am firstly a Barkindji woman, but also a nurse and union member.

My mum, a proud Barkindji woman, was also a nurse for more than 45 years and a union member for all of that time. She was also a delegate for her local union. When I joined the profession, she was a strong advocate for union membership. My mum believes in the strength of the collective way of fighting for critical issues, as well as protecting and supporting nurses to ensure they know their rights and responsibilities.

Remember that being Indigenious and able to vote in elections had just become a right around the same time my mum became a nurse and union member. Having a say and a voice was not taken for granted by my Aboriginal mum; it was something she deeply valued and encouraged. Her important message of having a collective say – through the union – is what inspires me to support the Voice.

My understanding is that the Voice is a formal process for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have a say in government legislation and policies that directly impact us. This means we would have a greater say on the issues that affect us.

The individuals who are core to enacting the Voice to parliament would be elected by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It would be a voice of the people, for the people representing the First Nation peoples of this land.

The Lamp has partnered with Koh Living to give NSWNMA members a chance to win one of 3 x Anna Blatman Bundles (RRP $265). .

To enter the competition, simply email your name and membership number with the subject: KOH LIVING to lamp@nswnma.asn.au

How can it ever be wrong for people to have a say in matters that affect them so deeply?

Rosyln Lockhart, RN

If there’s something on your mind, send us a letter and have your say. The letter of the month will WIN a gift card. The letter judged best each month will receive a $50 Coles Group and Myer gift card.

St Vincent’s and the Mater join forces for historic action

As many of you may know, nurses and midwives at the Mater and St Vincent’s Private hospitals are currently in EA negotiations with St Vincent’s Hospital Australia (SVHA). We continue campaigning for safe nurse-to-patient ratios and fair pay. On International Nurses Day, both sites joined forces and stopped work to rally together for the very first time. Together, we renewed calls for SVHA management and CEO Chris Blake to adhere to our EA demands and agree to implement nurse-to-patient ratios and a fair pay rise that is in line with the rising cost of living.

I really want to paint a picture for you of what it is like for our members and for midwives here at the Mater. This is the reality of what midwives have to deal with and the current workloads SVHA management expects us to continue to put up with:

• On a day shift, a midwife is looking after six mums, six babies, six partners. A total of 18 people.

• On a night shift the ratio is seven mums, seven babies, seven partners. That’s 21 people to account for.

At the Mater, the acuity of the mothers we care for has increased exponentially, even prior to COVID-19.

For the mums in our care, we are seeing increasing cases of anxiety and depression. These are very real issues that all have to be dealt with in addition to providing obstetric care.

Our caesarean rate is very high, leading midwives to now look after surgical patients, many of whom have post-operative complications. This is all on top our workload of six to seven mothers and their babies. Skill mix is an increasing issue for our team as we struggle to retain experienced staff. Our peers are burning out due to the workloads and many are reducing their hours as a consequence. Management’s response is to employ new grad nurses; however, this adds a layer of complexity given the need for closer supervision in the early stage of their career.

Team leaders are regularly having to take care of patients, ward assistant shifts are cancelled or not replaced when they are sick, and the list of non-nursing duties continues to grow as we face being stretched to breaking point.

The current workload is unsustainable. We are now in a crisis, and we are desperate for SVHA management to come to the table and negotiate to see staff-topatient ratios delivered.

I know the challenges we experience here at the Mater are not isolated and the unstainable workloads, poor skill mix, lack of breaks and loss of experienced staff are all issues being felt by my colleagues over at St Vincent’s Private. That is why our show of solidarity on International Nurses Day was so important.

We urgently need to reform, to ensure we can care for our patients and look after each other at the same time. All we want to do is provide the high-quality care we were trained to do and have the appropriate conditions that enable us to do this safely. Why is SVHA not letting us do our job properly?

SVHA, it is time to come to the table and meet our fair requests before it is too late.

Deirdre Duggan, RN RM

The future for nurses and midwives is on the up

Since the state election on 25 March, the morale in public nursing and midwifery has improved dramatically. There is a unique sense of hope and excitement for the future – one that was long overdue. This optimism was most evident at our branch meeting, where the 2023 Log of Claims was endorsed. It was attended by more members than any other branch meeting since the Stop Work gathering last year, and our members were positive and confident we will finally see real change.

The 10 per cent pay rise request and 100 per cent salary packaging claims are just the tip of the iceberg. With claims for ratios in so many areas of public health, we can see the difference these moves will make to the working lives of our members. There is a reality before us that these changes are going to begin with the five areas already agreed to by NSW Labor.

We are seeing members who most likely would have never attended a branch meeting before now coming along. These people want to write resolutions and fight for their own areas that are not yet covered by Labor’s pledges or the Log of Claims. These members can now see that we CAN make a change, and the best way to do that is by getting involved and fighting for it!

The future for nurses and midwives is on the up, and we have real hope that meaningful change is not far away.

Rachel Hughes, EEN