Nurses from St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Werribee were among those who stopped work last week in demand of better working conditions.
Nurses and midwives from St Vincent’s Private in Werribee, Fitzroy, East Melbourne and Kew stopped work for more than two hours as part of an escalation of The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s (Victorian Branch) industrial action.
Despite conceding that St Vincent’s Private management have offered some improvements to pay and working conditions, the ANMF said there has been a refusal to address understaffing and high patient workloads.
ANMF senior industrial officer Leigh Hubbard said the lack of mandated staff to patient ratios across the organisation’s private hospitals was unfair to nurses and midwives and their patients.
“How is it that other St Vincent’s public and private hospitals have ratios and Victoria’s St Vincent’s Private Hospitals don’t?” he said.
“Members tell us they want to give quality care and are unable to.
“Nurses are stressed and leave work exhausted because they are missing breaks just to make sure patients are getting care – St Vincent’s Private needs to listen to their employees because it is unsafe.”
Victorian public hospitals have had minimum ratios in the enterprise agreement since 2001 and in legislation since 2015, which research shows has improved quality and safety of patient care, reducing incidents of patient complications and even patient deaths, according to the ANMF.
St Vincent’s Private chief executive Janine Loader said she was “disappointed” the union rejected the hospital’s two initial offers.
“As a not-for-profit hospital, St Vincent’s is committed to achieving a fair agreement for our nurses and midwives. We will continue negotiating in good faith to achieve this,” she said.
