Victorian Nurses continue to fight for their profession
The ANF Respect our Work campaign is seeking improvements to nurses’, midwives’ and mental health nurses’ wages and staffing levels and their ability to provide safe expert care to patients, clients and residents in the next enterprise agreement.
Victoria has a healthy nursing and midwifery workforce and a unique low vacancy rate. The nurses claims will also help prevent a future nurse and midwife shortage. Nurses and midwives are seeking:
- Competitive wages comparable to other states. Most Victorian nurses, midwives and mental health nurses are behind their interstate colleagues.
- Improved nurse patient ratios in areas such as palliative care, emergency department, residential aged care, rehabilitation and geriatric evaluation management (GEM) units. In many cases asking for just one extra nurse per shift.
- The introduction of ratios in day surgery, dialysis, day oncology and stroke beds. These areas have limited minimum nursing numbers.
- Minimum mental health nurse patient profiles in inpatient, residential and high dependency unit. Mental health has no mandated minimum nursing numbers.
Victorian nurses and midwives are important to all Victorians, and we need to make sure we keep supporting them in 2012.
They are fighting for the right to be able to care for their patients (us and our families and friends) in the face of an extreme Liberal Government.
Add your voice on the nurses campaign website here and we will notify NUW members of the ongoing actions in Victoria next year.
