Nurses Vote To Suspend Work Bans

Date: 02 May 2003

NSW Nurses Association members at Maitland Hospital have voted to suspend their industrial action after hospital management agreed to provide them with clerical assistance on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights in the hospital's emergency and maternity departments.

The NSWNA branch voted late yesterday afternoon (1 May) to accept this latest management offer provided that:

- there will be two staff members in the emergency department at all times;
- the activity levels in the emergency department are reviewed on 1 July and not 1 September as management originally proposed; and
- on the nights when there is no ward clerk the nurses will enter the data on the hospital computer system (known as Edis) and hand write on the triage sheet the names of next of kin and a contact number.

The NSWNA has been campaigning for the appointment of a clerical assistant on the night shift (11.00pm to 6.00am), to be shared between the maternity and emergency departments, so that nurses can concentrate on patient care. Clerical assistance is provided on all other shifts in the two departments.

NSWNA General Secretary, Brett Holmes, said the NSWNA would prefer clerical assistance every night of the week, but this is a good compromise in the short term.

"The four nights selected are the busiest of the week and there is agreement to continue monitoring the situation on the other nights and increase the clerical assistance if need be.

"For staff security and patient safety reasons the nurses also want a guarantee that there will be two staff members in the emergency department at all times. This is a perfectly reasonable request and I understand management has agreed to it," Mr Holmes said.

For further information

Contact:	Brett Holmes
Union:	Labor Council of NSW
Phone:	(02) 9550 3244
Contact Mobile:	0414 550 324

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