Hunter Emergency in Desperate State

Date: 05 April 2002

Staffing problems in the emergency department of one of the State's largest and busiest hospitals - John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle - look set to go to arbitration next Monday.

The Hunter Area Health Service (HAHS) has failed to agree to improved nurse-staffing arrangements at the emergency department.

The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has given the NSW Nurses Association (NSWNA) and HAHS until Monday 8 April to reach agreement on staffing levels and workload management in the John Hunter Hospital emergency department or it will conduct an arbitration hearing, which will include site inspections. A short history of this dispute is attached.

NSWNA acting general secretary, Brett Holmes, said the HAHS has not changed its position on staffing levels for the busy emergency department and unless they agree within the next 24 hours to improve staffing levels then we won't meet the Industrial Relations Commission's deadline of next Monday.

"So it looks as if we will go to arbitration. This is regrettable because it shows a lack of concern by HAHS management for their nursing staff and patients, many of whom are forced to spend many hours in uncommissioned beds in the John Hunter emergency department.

"However, the NSWNA is more than ready for arbitration. We believe there is a need for extra nurses during the refurbishment phase and there will also be a need for extra nurses when the new emergency department is opened later this year," Mr Holmes said.

"A snapshot of patient numbers in February and March this year shows just how busy this emergency department is. During the current refurbishment the temporary emergency department has 29 commissioned beds and nurses are daily forced to find additional beds to deal with the patient throughput. There is clearly a need for more fully staffed beds.

"I don't know how much evidence the HAHS needs before it will provide additional resources at John Hunter. Two weeks ago we thought we had an agreement for additional staff during the refurbishment, a staff review and a clinical service review.

"Then at the last minute, and for reasons only known to the HAHS, this agreement was taken off the table by HAHS officials. Now they won't even engage in meaningful talks, even though the Industrial Relations Commission has recommended they do so," Mr Holmes said.

John Hunter Hospital Emergency Department staffing dispute - short history

In early February this year nurses in the John Hunter Hospital Emergency Department (ED) threatened to refuse to move to temporary facilities because of staffing and workload issues. The ED is currently being refurbished, thus a move to temporary premises was necessary.

The temporary ED has two entrances at opposite ends of the building - one for ambulance patients and the other for all other patients. This created obvious challenges for triage and hospital management proposed that the triage function for the ambulance entry be shared by the ED Nurse Coordinator, the ED Clinical Nurse Consultant and the ED Safety and Equipment Officer when they were on duty. At other times one triage nurse would have to cover both entrances.

On 13 February, agreement was reached for two triage nurses per shift and that a one month review would be undertaken by management, nursing staff and NSWNA officials with a view to reaching a mutually agreeable solution. This and a number of other assurances were accepted by nursing staff and the move to the temporary unit occurred.

On 14 March management informed nursing staff and NSWNA branch representatives at John Hunter that the additional triage staff would be removed for three morning shifts per week. This was a unilateral decision and nursing staff threatened to commence industrial action. The NSWNA filed a dispute with the NSW Industrial Relations Commission and the matter came before Deputy President Harrison on Friday 15 March for conciliation.

In the Commission the HAHS agreed to retain the staff level at the level agreed on 13 February whilst further talks continued. Further talks between HAHS and NSWNA officials did take place and an agreement was reached, which included improved staffing, a staffing review and a review of clinical services in the ED.

Just prior to a report back hearing in the NSW Industrial Relations Commission on 22 March the HAHS took this agreement off the table. The Commission then sent the HAHS and NSWNA away again for further talks and said that if agreement was not reached by Monday 8 April 2002 then the dispute would go to arbitration.

Another important concern of nursing staff is the overall workload of the ED. The move to temporary premises was with 29 commissioned beds, but they have consistently and continuously had to utilise uncommissioned beds due to the heavy demand for services.

For further information

Contact:	Brett Holmes
Union:	Labor Council of NSW
Phone:	02-9550 3244
Contact Mobile:	0414-550 324
WWW:	http://www.nswna.asn.au

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