William Ton, AAP
Nurses and midwives at a network of private hospitals will become the highest paid in their state after accepting a pay deal following lengthy negotiations.
More than 1300 staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals’ Melbourne sites in Werribee, Fitzroy, East Melbourne and Kew will receive an 11.5 per cent pay increase over three years after voting up the offer.
Workers will get additional annual leave for part-time staff working weekends, the creation of a new nursing role, consultation committee and extra staff in key areas.
From May, the hospital network will phase in 19 shifts in priority areas including birth suite, postnatal, paediatrics, neuroscience and night shift at the Kew hospital.
An additional 12 shifts will be introduced from February 2027.
Junior nurses and midwives will get an even bigger increase under the deal, the hospital network’s chief executive Janine Loader said.
“Under this new agreement, (St Vincent’s Private Hospital) nurses and midwives will be the best paid in any private hospital in Victoria, with great conditions,” she said.
The agreement comes after a marathon nine months of negotiations which began in June and led to 103 days of industrial action between November and February.
Major surgeries were halted in December after hundreds of nurses and midwives took “unprecedented” strike action following increasing burn-out because of constant understaffing.
“This was the first time in Victorian history that private hospital nurses have closed one in three hospital beds, cancelled elective surgery lists and stopped work for four hours to secure a fair enterprise agreement,” the union’s assistant secretary Madeleine Harradence said.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation revealed maternity services were forced to redirect patients because burnt-out staff wouldn’t volunteer to come in.
In another instance, two nurses were responsible for 18 patients during overnight shifts in acute medical surgical wards.
“Private hospital nurses and midwives should not have to be trailblazers and fight for safe staffing levels and safe patient workloads for themselves and the patients they care for,” Ms Harradence said.
“That’s why the union is lobbying the federal government to impose regulations on private health insurers if they don’t increase private hospital payments so that hospitals can fund patient care.”
