Angry and frustrated, hundreds of nurses from Grafton to Tweed gathered in Lismore’s Spinks Park today, all calling for fair work conditions and pay rates.

See a video of the protest: https://fb.watch/baV9VTtcuW/

Waving banners and signs, it wasn’t just the nursing staff, but cleaners and ward staff from local hospitals who staged a morning strike from work to send a powerful message to the NSW Government that hospital staff need to be paid more and treated better.

Emotions were high as nursing staff chanted “fair staffing, fair pay” and “undervalued, underpaid” as they listened to speakers from each of the district hospitals talk about understaffed wards, “horrendous” work environments, hot work days dressed in Covid PPE – and increased exposure to violence from hospital visitors and patients.

Then they marched down Molesworth Street as passing drivers beeped their car horns in support of the “Covid heroes” who have carried our health system through the pandemic

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See the march on video: https://fb.watch/baVbNBi4wd/

Lismore Base

Lismore Base Hospital nurse for 32 years Gil Wilson spoke at the rally. He is also the branch secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association.

“The health system is crumbling,” he said. “Because we care, we are striking for better patient care –and for better staff to patient ratios.”

“Since the pandemic, staffing ratios have gone out the window

“The government doesn’t want to give us another 2.5% pay rise. All the other states have better pay and conditions.

“We put out ads for more nurses, but get no one – nurses would rather go and work over the border for a higher wage.

More danger

 “We are also become exposed to more danger and violence and it can be uncomfortable.

“We sacrifice so much time with our families, but because we care, we give up our time for our patients.

“We need be given a reasonable workload and staff to patient rations - and a fair pay rate.”

At the protest, operating theatre nurses dressed in full PPE gear said how hot the “horrendous” working conditions were for them every day.

Lack of action

Referring to the NSW government’s lack of action to make working conditions better, they carried a saying “at least the blood on our hands washes off”.

Susie, a nurse from Ballina Hospital said after 23 years in nursing “I’ve never seen working conditions like they have been in the last three years”.

“Prior to the pandemic, we were crying out for better staffing ratios,”she said.

“We need one nurse to three patients, but in Ballina hospital until 16 months ago, we had one nurse on night shift looking after 9 patients and those in the waiting room. It was a miracle we survived those nightshifts.”

“Shame”

As the assembled crowd of nurses called out “shame”, Susie said the problem was State wide.

“Every NSW hospital has the same horror stories to tell.

“With the pandemic striking and borders closing, the pressures increased in our emergency departments.

“People were desperate to get a PPE test to get across the border to be with their families and short cutting the system.

Surge in demand

“The surge and demand in ED increased three fold. 

“If the government had been listening, they would have heard that we had been struggling in nursing for years. We have been asking for mandated ratios in NSW - like in Queensland and Victoria.

“Do we have to let our community members be in danger for you to listen to us? It’s often only when someone dies that things change.

“Enough is enough”

“Enough is enough. Staffing ratios will make a difference. Being paid fairly will bring people back to nursing as a career pathway.

"At the moment, people are walking away in droves.

“Nurses here are at breaking point, asking why did I study nursing and walking away from their careers.

"I know why – because we care for the public, and each other."

"Exhausted"

Murwillumbah Hospital nurse Angie Guiness addressed the rally. She said she also had a disaster health management role.

“We are exhausted from carrying this State through a pandemic,” she said. “And we felt like that before we even heard of Covid.

“It won’t ever get back to normal – and normal didn’t work. NSW was teetering toward disaster well before Covid.

“Now nurses and midwives are already tired, disillusioned, devalued and never listened to – even when we tell government what we need to be safe.

“But we stepped up when the country was in crisis, worked longer hours through meal breaks, sweated in PPE and showed up even when we were worried for our own family and our health.

“Now we are expected to go back to normal?

“After disasters, we need to look at what contributed to the disaster and address gaps in system.

“We need safe staff to patient ratios, to encourage people to stay in our profession, more grad nurses and mentors with time to support them, industrial equity in line with other areas.

"Hollow words"

“We don’t need hollow words and thanks.

“We have an election looming and need to talk about our experiences and share them. You can use your vote to help build a stronger public health system – to value us and community.

“At Tweed we are dying”

“At Tweed we are dying. We have lost 18 nursing staff out of our ED since January.

"Now we have eight on staff today and we are the busiest ED outside of Sydney.

“We are 1km from the border with Queensland - and over there, nurses earn over $300 per pay more than their counterparts in NSW. It’s wage theft.

“There is also a new hospital opening in Tweed soon and no more nursing staff.

“We need a new generation of nurses or we will have no one coming on behind us.”

Read the earlier story: Nurses rally organised for today may be foiled by NSW Government and IRC