Working as a nurse can be an entirely different kettle of fish depending on which state you call home, with staffing levels, state-specific health issues and independent health systems in stark contrast to neighbouring states all over the country.

The nurses in NSW have major concerns about the state of their industry, and have been particularly vocal about what they perceive to be major issues that need to be addressed by the state’s health system. In recent months alone, nurses have been campaigning for a raft of better work conditions in the hope they can improve conditions not only for the workforce, but also for patients.

The NSW Nurses’ Association, (which is the union for nurses working in NSW), has strong support from the state’s nursing workforce, and can count itself among the most vocal nursing unions in the country.

The Association has taken up a number of issues on behalf of nurses over the years in its bid to improve conditions, with varying degrees of success.

In recent months, there has been a flurry of activity from the Association as it works to campaign for change. Some of its most prominent concerns include:

· The Association argues that nurses’ workloads in NSW public hospitals are getting worse, with nurses at breaking point and patient care now being compromised. In recent weeks, nurses across the state have intensified their stand against unsafe workloads, with public rallies drawing mounting support from their local communities and politicians. The NSW Nurses’ Association argues that drastic action is needed, with the past year seeing a recruitment freeze and the removal of positions and services. As part of this, the NSW Nurses’ Association made a historic pay and conditions claim that sets minimum numbers of nurses per patient in each hospital across the state. Brett Holmes, general secretary of the Association told a recent rally that the Sydney West Area Health Service had not advertised positions externally since February 2009 as part of a cost-cutting exercise.“Nurse managers are only allowed to advertise within the existing staff, meaning that staff shortages just get moved around within the area health service,” Holmes said.“Nurses and midwives can no longer carry the health system on their backs, nor can they remain silent on the reduction of services in their communities.”

· Nurses across the country have long argued that wages are too low, with the issue being taken up by the Australian Nursing Federation, the NSW Nurses’ Association and the Queensland Nurses’ Union. The trio applied to Fair Work Australia to protect the wages of aged care nurses in NSW and Queensland in March in a bid to ensure that unscrupulous employers can’t use the award modernisation process to cut staff wages. The application, which covered more than 400 aged care providers across the two states, marked the first time a union has used these provisions to protect workers across a large number of employers. The new modern award starts on 1 July, 2010.

· The NSW Nurses’ Association protested against under staffing at seven hospitals across western Sydney last month after mounting frustration over lack of nurse recruitment and cuts to beds and services. The Association says 20 full-time-equivalent positions remain unfilled in the maternity section and there are 14 vacancies in emergency at the Nepean Hospital alone. It says that despite the shortage, nurses are being call on to cover shortages in other wards.

But whether or not the NSW Nurses’ Association can have an impact on these issues is yet to be seen, with the Association and the NSW Department of Health appearing to view the situation very differently. The NSW Department of Health argues in its 2009 annual report that despite the NSW health system being subjected to increasing demand, population growth and population ageing in recent years, the health of the people of NSW not only compared favourably with the rest of the world, but continues to improve with each passing year.

And NSW Minister for Health Carmel Tebbutt MP says that a quarterly performance report released earlier this year showed that emergency departments are performing well despite a rise in presentations. She said that the quarterly report for October to December 2009 shows NSW Health staff is continuing to meet the challenges of providing hospital services despite a continual rise in demand.

By Nina Hendy

Copyright NCAH