Nurses welcome health initiatives

Date: 09 March 2000

The NSW Government?s decision to operate a three-year recurrent health budget should provide greater stability for staff and the community and remove a lot of the uncertainty over hospital services and staffing levels that precedes the traditional annual budget announcements, the New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA) said today.

The NSWNA was commenting on today?s health care announcement by State Health Minister, Craig Knowles - Working as a Team: The Way Forward.

NSWNA General Secretary, Sandra Moait, said the annual uncertainty over budgets caused considerable anxiety amongst nursing staff each year and impacted on morale.

?The injection of an extra $2 billion into the NSW public health system over the next three years is also a very welcome decision and way in excess of expectations. The fact that announcements have also been made about issues such as discharge reform and enhanced individual care planning for patients means the community should get even better value from that expenditure,? Ms Moait said.

?By making better use of nurses in areas such as the patient discharge process and the community sector we can further improve patient throughput and care outcomes.

?In fact, the strong emphasis on specific and innovative patient care programs is a noteworthy feature of today?s announcement and the NSWNA will be looking carefully at the detail of these programs in the months ahead.

?Finally, the Government?s decision to wipe all current rural Area Health Service debt and fully implement the Resource Distribution Formula in rural areas will be greeted with a sigh of relief by rural nurses and their communities. Rural health services have special problems, such as high staff turnover, that put pressure on costs. To ensure every person in NSW has reasonable access to the health care system, we must ensure rural services are given special attention. Various initiatives in today?s announcement do that.

?We must also make sure that each region of the State gets its fair share of funding. A number of regional areas have been under-funded, on a per capita basis, for some time and the NSWNA has been very concerned about this injustice. In a series of recent meetings with Mr Knowles, NSWNA officials and workplace delegates made their feelings known about the issue,? Ms Moait said.

For further information

Contact:	Sandra Moait
Union:	Nurses Association
Phone:	0414-810 177

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