Nurses strike again
Nurses and midwives plan to walk off the job for 24-hours today, with the NSW Nurses Association saying the government had failed to address the ongoing staffing crisis inside public hospitals and had failed to commit to further talks on workplace improvements.
Members of the Bourke branch of the Association will join the strike, and spokesperson Rachel Ianni said she hoped members of the Bourke community would show their support for the members who take part in the strike.
“It’s one thing to read about the issues but we want to talk to people face to face so they hear from the horse’s mouth so to speak,” Ms Ianni said.
“We will be congregating on the Bourke Hospital side of Tarcoon Street today and we welcome people to come talk with us so we can communicate our concerns.
“We hope this action will bring about changes to make the hospital system safe not just for nurses and staff but for everyone.
“At the moment the Bourke Hospital is operating on 50 per cent staffing,” she said.
The state-wide strike will be the second strike in six weeks, with public rallies to highlight the ongoing short staffing, workloads, and patient safety concerns
Nurses Association Secretary, Brett Holmes, said nurses and midwives were deeply distressed by the government’s refusal to acknowledge the public health system is in crisis.
“In the past five weeks there have been multiple ‘code yellow’ incidents across the state, which signals an internal staffing emergency inside a health facility. These are becoming more frequent across metropolitan and regional sites because of staffing issues,” Mr Holmes said.
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