Nurses will continue to rally for better conditions

Nurses rallied again on Tuesday afternoon at Canberra Hospital calling on the territory government to facilitate a clear recovery plan for nurses and midwives.

Canberra nurses will continue to rally over the coming weeks for better conditions, with a major rally planned on August 3 at the ACT Legislative Assembly.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Association ACT branch has also lodged a petition with the territory's Legislative Assembly calling for a plan focused on substantial workforce planning, meeting mandated nurse-to-patient ratios and constructive improvements to workplace culture.

The union's ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel said the actions were about ensuring that nurses' voices could be heard.

"Nurses and midwives are concerned the government isn't genuinely listening to their concerns," he said.

"We believe that the ACT government is playing a victim to COVID at the moment and they really do need to look at some of the initiatives that are being undertaken in other jurisdictions. "

The union is asking the ACT government for bonus payments for nurses and midwives after both NSW and Victoria offered a $3000 payment to workers.

Public health nurses in the ACT are unable to legally strike until December when the enterprise agreement expires. Mr Daniel said there was definitely an appetite from members around striking.

Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said she could completely understand why nurses and midwives are choosing to express their distress publicly but said bonus payments would be a very significant cost to the territory's budget.

"I really understand that our nurses and midwives are absolutely committed to delivering the highest quality care that they can," she said.

"We've seen where those bonuses have been offered in other jurisdictions, that nurses themselves in those jurisdictions have described it as a band aid and have called for more substantial measures like the implementation of ratios, and genuine recognition through their paying conditions under enterprise agreements.

"It would be a very significant cost to the ACT budget and the conversations that I've had with the unions [is] we can't just single out nurses and midwives, we've got a much wider healthcare workforce that is working incredibly hard and under significant pressure and we've got other areas of our workforce, they will also have been significantly affected by COVID-19."

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Ms Stephen-Smith said high COVID case numbers coupled with other respiratory illnesses and unplanned staff leave was creating real pressure for the workforce and it was expected to continue throughout winter.

"Our hospitals are under extreme strain and pressure at the moment and our workforce as well and we really recognise that the impact of the pandemic over the last two-a-half years has been really significant for our health care workers right across the board," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

"This for the ACT is the worst time of the pandemic."

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