Nurses and midwives gathered as a united front outside Sutherland Hospital on Friday, in their fight for better staffing conditions.
Rally for Ratios is the latest campaign being fronted by members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association, in its push to highlight what they say are ongoing problems behind closed doors and within the wards.
The association claims that its members have reported instances of fatigue as they struggle to maintain high standards of patient care.
It stated that some employees of the hospital are under enormous pressure, especially when nurses are not replaced if unexpected leave is taken, forcing wards and units to operate short-staffed.
The association is also concerned about junior nursing assistants regularly being asked to cover the shifts of registered and more experienced nurses.
It is calling on the NSW government to introduce a more reliable staffing system and guarantee minimum nurse-to-patient ratios to every ward on every shift.
Local organiser and palliative nurse, Julie Ljubovic, says staff want a commitment to staffing ratios.
"We want 1:3 in emergency, 1:3 in paediatrics and 1:4 in other wards," she said. "Nurses are working beyond their hours."
President of the Sutherland Hospital branch and emergency nurse, Collette Duffy, says the situation is getting worse.
"It's a merry-go-round, especially when there is a huge influx of patients presenting to hospital," she said. "Some patients are waiting up to six hours before seeing a doctor.
"Our staff are the most dedicated people in their community, but they're burnt out. We have enthusiastic graduates, but they are exhausted."
"On a shift a nurse could be looking after five beds with patients who have severe abdominal pain and are vomiting, have chest pain, or a little old lady can be waiting to be seen for a broken arm. Plus there may be another 10 waiting. A nurse could get up to 12 beds.
"You barely get to do the hourly observations for all patients. There's no way you can provide adequate care with that. In maternity, they don't count the number of babies in their staffing mix.
"This is about the government promoting stadiums before hospitals, which don't seem to be very high on their list."
But Sutherland Hospital states that the NSW government has dramatically increased frontline health staff.
In the past seven years, there have been more than 16,000 nurses, midwives, doctors, allied health professionals and hospital support staff added to better serve the community, the hospital said in a statement.
"Since June 2015, the midwifery workforce has increased by 12 per cent.
"The 2018/19 state budget is adding a further 1370 health staff, including 850 nurses, 100 midwives, 300 medical practitioners and 120 allied health professionals – resulting in a record frontline clinical support staff."
Sutherland Hospital general manager Valerie Jovanovic says it had not received any formal correspondence from the association about the planned rally, nor any formal complaints from members in regard to their claims.
She says the hospital has a dedicated Reasonable Workloads Committee that meets regularly and has member representation.
"This committee facilitates consultation on reasonable workloads for nurses and midwives," she said.
"Sutherland Hospital consistently meets the Nursing Hours Per Patient Day as per the Public Health System Nurses' and Midwives' (State) Award, and also provides additional hours above the award where required."
Ms Jovanovic says all wards including paediatric and emergency, are staffed in accordance within requirements.
"The award already provides an agreed method for determining the number of nurses required to provide direct clinical care across NSW in general inpatient wards, palliative care units, rehabilitation units and adult acute mental health inpatient units," she said.
"This award allows local nurse unit managers the flexibility to allocate nursing hours in a way that matches the busiest times and patient needs.
"Daily meetings are held to ensure nursing levels are appropriate, safe and meet patient demand."
