The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association has voted to implement a ban on patient-discharge phone calls unless the Hunter New England Health District introduce short-term measures to combat unsafe nursing staff numbers.
Hunter New England Local Health District has a number of long-term solutions including more education and training, but currently, no immediate solution to the problem and over 250 nurses voted in favour of the ban.
New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association General Secretary Brett Holmes, says nurses should not have the burden of making discharge calls with the current staffing conditions.
'Our members have been required to do additional shifts and even compulsory overtime as a result of the hospital now trying to meet its award obligations. Nurses who are already struggling want to concentrate on the patients in front of them, but this burden has been placed on already over-worked nurses, and cannot be sustained.
'If there were sufficient numbers of nurse staffing hours required, it's highly likely patients would receive a proper discharge [from hospitals].'
The NMA has uncovered John Hunter Hospital has been understaffing and under-resourcing up to 7,000 hours of nursing care, and the 250 John Hunter nurses who voted for the ban want a reallocation of discharge calls to clinicians and other health staff to at least take the pressure off overworked staff.
Mr Holmes is calling on Hunter New England Health to construct short-term solutions as well as its established long-term ones.
'Hunter New England [LHD] needs to urgently fill its vacant positions. It needs to ensure that there are enough registered nurses and enrolled nurses to meet the current needs of patients, and recognise that John Hunter Hospital has a high level of very sick patients who need the best care that can be delivered.'
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