NURSES will staff Tamworth hospital’s new emergency department today after the Industrial Relations Commission yesterday overturned a union resolution banning members from working in the facility.
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Yesterday afternoon, commission deputy president Rod Harrison, in a hearing with the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, recommended the ban on nurses working in the hospital’s emergency department and maternity unit be lifted.
However, the union has welcomed Mr Harrison’s recommendation for the resusci- tation and triage positions in the department to temporarily be staffed separately – which the union had been calling for, albeit on a permanent basis.
“We welcome this decision – we believe that’s the proper understanding of the award, and we’ll be certainly pushing that that must be ongoing,” association secretary Brett Holmes said.
“They’ve also welcomed the (interim) additional four (nursing) hours on night duty, but continue to believe this requires to be expanded to 10.”
However, there is still work to be done on the maternity unit staffing situation, with the union and the Hunter New England Local Health District (LHD) yet to agree on the required full-time equivalent nursing numbers.
This decision will be subject to a site inspection of the hospital undertaken by the commission next Wednesday, before further discussions are entered into between the LHD, union and commission.
A report into the matter is due to be released on August 20.
“In the meantime, the local management LHD has agreed that they will free up the 3.68 full-time equivalent midwives out of the special care nursery, and they will staff that separately,” Mr Holmes said.
“We certainly welcome that, as we know they’re sorely needed. Our members are working extraordinarily hard in the maternity unit. They’ve already got overflow medical surgical patients being pushed into the maternity unit, as we understand it.”
Mr Holmes said the commission recognised there was additional pressure on the hospital’s emergency department, due to there not being enough medical officers.
“Our members ... are always trying to get the best outcome for patients. We’ll certainly be preparing for the site inspection next Wednesday,” he said.
The emergency department work ban imposed by the union was due to serious patient safety concerns over nurse-to-patient staffing ratios.