21st Annual QNU Conference - 30 July 2002
Application to terminate nurses’ enterprise bargaining period goes to AIRC tomorrow -Summons served on Health Department director-general - 23 July 2002
State Government refuses to address nursing crisis - Nurses have said they will not let the Queensland people down - and they won’t - 19 July 2002
Intensive care nurses told to eat meals at the bedside as nurse shortage continues to grip State health service - AIRC hearing continues tomorrow - 17 July 2002
AIRC hearing continues today - Nurse shortage continues to force bed closures - 16 July 2002
Major rally outside State Parliament today - ‘CHUNDER BUCKET EXPRESS’ arrives in Brisbane this morning - AIRC hearing continues today; Work bans continue - 12 July 2002
Details of today's AIRC conciliation hearing - 10 July 2002 (late)
Industrial action continues - strikes today in Mackay and Emerald - 10 July 2002
QNU will be at AIRC tomorrow - Industrial action and advertising campaign continue
Industrial action continues as QNU prepares for ‘NO’ campaign on State Government ballot - 4 July 2002
QNU Council votes to step up campaign to rebuild nursing - authorises "NO" campaign in any State Government nurses' ballot - 9 pm 2 July 2002
QNU Council to Meet Tonight: Industrial Action Continues - 2 July 2002
30 July 2002
21st Annual Queensland Nurses Union Conference
Nurses: Worth Looking After campaign will be major focus
Still no dates for public sector arbitration
The 21st annual conference of the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) is being held over the next three days – 31 July, 1 & 2 August 2002 - at the Carlton Crest Hotel, Brisbane.
Around 200 delegates, representing more than 30,000 nurses from hospitals, community health facilities and nursing homes throughout Queensland, will discuss a range of industrial relations, health and political issues.
The first day – Wednesday, 31 July – is devoted to presentations on, and discussion of, issues related to the serious nursing shortage confronting Queensland. Representatives of media outlets are welcome to attend the following presentations tomorrow morning:
9.10am
Your Work, Your Time, Your Life – an overview of the results of a major research project, undertaken by the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), on issues of concern to Queensland nurses
By Professor Desley Hegney RN – Chair of Rural Nursing USQ
Dr Ashley Plank – Senior Lecturer in Statistics USQ
Victoria Parker RN – Research Assistant USQ
9.50am
The consequences of changes to aged care nurses’ status and workload – evidence from Queensland and the United States.
By Dr Leisa Sargent - Cornell University, New York
11.00am
How we care for and value our nurses – a perspective "from the coalface".
By Desley Geraghty-Rudd – Nurse Practice Coordinator, Cardiac High Dependency Unit, Nambour Hospital
11.40am
Relative pay and conditions for nurses
By Dr Richard Hall – Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (ACIRRT), University of Sydney
12.20pm
Nurses and the community: potential partners in health system reform
By Meredith Carter, Executive Director, Health Issues Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne.
Thursday and Friday will be devoted to formal reports on industrial and professional issues being dealt with by the QNU and consideration of motions from the union’s workplace branches. These reports and motions deal with a range of issues including hospital funding, enterprise bargaining, mental health services, community health services, rural and remote area health services, nurse education and aged care policy.
Public sector nurses dispute up-date
QNU officials are still awaiting notification from the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) on who will constitute the full bench that arbitrates the QNU’s claim for a new enterprise bargaining agreement covering public sector nurses in Queensland.
Last Wednesday the AIRC terminated the bargaining between the QNU and Queensland Health for the new agreement, after a lengthy and bitter industrial dispute that saw nurses implement extensive work bans, including bed closures, in hospitals and community health facilities around the State.
With the matter going to arbitration all industrial action by nurses has been lifted. However, the nurse shortage and lack of staff are still forcing the closure of many beds in hospitals and the reduction of services around the State.
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23 July 2002
Nurses: Worth Looking After campaign up-date
Application to terminate nurses’ enterprise bargaining period goes to AIRC tomorrow - Summons served on Health Department director-general
Date: Wednesday, 24 July 2002
Time: 11.30am
Venue: Australian Industrial Relations Commission, 66 Creek St Brisbane
The State Government’s application to terminate the Queensland public sector nurses’ enterprise bargaining period is scheduled to start in the Australian Industrial relations Commission (AIRC) at 11.30am tomorrow, Wednesday 24 July.
Amongst other things the State Government has applied to terminate the bargaining period under the applicable sections of the federal Workplace Relations Act and before the AIRC can terminate it must be convinced that these sections of the Act have been met. In summary the State Government must prove that either:
- [subsection 170MW(3)] the current industrial action being undertaken by QNU members is threatening to endanger the life, the personal safety or health, or the welfare of the population or of part of it; or
- [subsection 170MW(7)(c)] there is no reasonable prospect of the negotiating parties reaching an agreement under Division 2 or 3 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996.
Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said that if the Government tries to use the subsection on industrial action that is threatening to endanger life then the QNU will strenuously oppose such an application.
"We hope they don’t do that, but if they do we are ready and this afternoon QNU lawyers have even served a summons on the Health Department director-general, Dr Stable, requiring him to provide a whole range of departmental documents dealing with the operation of the Queensland public hospital system.
"The QNU does not accept that its members, who have acted very responsibly during this difficult dispute, are endangering people. In fact, QNU officials and members have worked hard at ensuring people requiring urgent admission to hospital or health services were admitted.
"I urge the State Government to use the other subsection of the Act dealing with there being no reasonable prospect of agreement being reached," Ms Hawksworth said.
FORM R46
Workplace Relations Act 1996
AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION
SUMMONS TO WITNESS
IN the matter of : Application by the Department of Health Re : suspension or termination bargaining period (BP2002/4579)
TO: Dr Robert Stable, Director General, Department of Health, 147-163 Charlotte Street, Brisbane.
You are summoned to attend before Commissioner Bacon at Brisbane on 24 July, 2002 at 11.30 am and so from day to day until the hearing of the abovementioned matter is completed or until you are excused from further attendance, to give evidence on behalf of the Australian Nursing Federation.
* You are required to bring with you and produce the following documents and other things:
All documents containing Management Benchmarking data for each Departmental Zone and Health Service District identifying labour expenditure, including salaries and wages, overtime and sick leave, for nursing staff, medical staff, visiting medical staff, operational staff and managerial and clerical staff, including quarterly expenditure data, and financial year expenditure data for the period June, 2000 to July, 2002.
All documents concerning elective surgery data identifying the number of procedures performed, by category of procedure for all Queensland Health facilities for the period of 1 June, 2001 to 31 August, 2001 and the period 1 June, 2002 to the current date.
All documents concerning the cancellation of elective surgery data identifying the number of procedures cancelled by category of procedure, for all Queensland Health facilities, including the reason for cancellation of the procedure, for the 1 June, 2001 to 31 August, 2001 and the period 1 June, 2002 to the current date.
All documents concerning access data (including waiting lists) relating to elective surgery by category of procedure, for all Queensland Health facilities.
All documents concerning the Logan Hospital going on "by-pass" for the 12 month period up to 31 May, 2001 and the 12 month period up to 31 May, 2002, and further specific records identifying the number of occasions the Logan Hospital went on "by-pass" for the period 1 June, 2002 to the current date.
Medical staff sick leave records for Logan Hospital for the period 1 June, 2001 to 31 July, 2001 and for the period 1 June, 2002 to the current date.
All documents containing access block data for the Emergency Departments of the twenty largest public hospitals in Queensland for the period January, 2001 to the present.
Dated __________ 2002
[Signature] Member of Commission
[or Registrar]
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19 July 2002
Nurses: Worth Looking After campaign up-date
State Government refuses to address nursing crisis
Nurses have said they will not let the Queensland people down - and they won’t
The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) this morning advised Commissioner Ken Bacon, of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC), that it did not believe his recommendations regarding the pay and working conditions of public sector nurses in Queensland would do enough to solve the serious nurse shortage confronting the State’s free, public health system.
The QNU appreciates the efforts of the AIRC to conciliate the points of disagreement between the QNU and State Government over this issue, but after ten days of effort it is clear the Beattie Government is not committed to the proper staffing of our public hospital and health system and any further conciliation is pointless.
The AIRC has acknowledged the QNU’s right to do this, as the last ten days have involved a process of conciliation not arbitration.
With the conciliation process ended QNU members are entitled to resume all protected industrial action, including bed closures.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said today is a sad day for the Queensland people and for the labour movement, which has always been proud of its commitment to Queensland’s free public health system.
"The Queensland Government’s failure to provide the necessary funds to rebuild nursing as an attractive career option means nursing vacancies are likely to grow in our public hospitals. This means services will continue to be cut or compromised because of a shortage of nurses," Ms Hawksworth said.
"Queensland nurses remain determined to stop the undermining of the health system in this way. During this dispute Queensland nurses have told the Queensland people they will not let them down and they will not. We are determined to see this campaign through and rebuild our world class public health system. Report back meetings of QNU members will be held throughout the State next week," Ms Hawksworth said.
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17 July 2002
"Nurses: Worth Looking After" campaign up-date
Intensive care nurses told to eat meals at the bedside as nurse shortage continues to grip State health service
AIRC hearing continues tomorrow
Intensive care nurses on yesterday’s night shift at Caboolture Hospital were told by an after-hours hospital manager to ‘eat at the bedside’ because there was no one to relieve them during meal breaks, according to advice provided by Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) members to QNU officials today.
QNU officials have also been advised that during the said shift there were only three nurses available to care for four patients, including two who were being ventilated.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said this shows just how dangerous the State’s nurse shortage has become.
"I understand the nurses involved have lodged an incident report and rightly so. At the very least there should have been one nurse for each of these intensive care patients at Caboolture. The fact the nurses were not able to have any breaks during the shift makes the situation even worse. I am also advised that nurses on the night shift in this unit have not been able to have a break for the last three nights. And this is only one of many serious problems caused by the nurse shortage, which have come to light in the last 24 hours," Ms Hawksworth said.
At Cairns Base Hospital QNU members advise that eight beds remain closed in the 48-bed surgical ward because there are not enough nurses. Of the ten nurses working in the same ward on one shift yesterday, eight were agency staff.
The following beds are currently closed at Townsville Hospital as a result of the nursing shortage:
- Surgical Eight
- Medical Two
- Oncology (cancer) Three
- Rehabilitation Two
- One operating theatre
In terms of Royal Brisbane Hospital there were at least six orthopaedic beds still closed today because of the nurse shortage and QNU members advise there are at least 50 nursing positions vacant at this vital Queensland hospital.
At Ipswich Hospital 52 agency and casual nurses were used on Monday and 47 yesterday (Tuesday).
At Gladstone Hospital the children’s ward has been closed for some time due to a shortage of nurses and QNU members advise that in the last week they have had up to six children being cared for in an adult surgical ward. Operating theatre nurses are being deployed to other areas of the hospital because of the nurse shortage and this means the Gladstone Hospital does not have nurses to run an elective surgery theatre list.
QNU members also advise that in the last couple of days two operating theatre nurses at Rockhampton Base have been recalled after their normal shift and been forced to work up to 19 hours straight, without a meal break. Many nurses are also coming under increased pressure to work overtime to cover nursing vacancies at the hospital.
"And this is only a snapshot of the current situation. On the State Government’s own figures the number of nursing positions vacant in the Queensland public hospital system has grown in the last couple of years from around 500 to at least 800," Ms Hawksworth said.
QNU officials are scheduled to resume conciliation hearings in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission at 10.00am tomorrow, Thursday 18 July, in an attempt to solve the nurse shortage currently gripping the State by improving the wages and conditions of Queensland’s public sector nurses.
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16 July 2002
"Nurses: Worth Looking After" campaign up-date
AIRC hearing continues today
Nurse shortage continues to force bed closures
Conciliation talks between Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) officials and representatives of the Queensland Government are scheduled to restart in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) at 10.00am today, Tuesday July 16, and continue for most, if not the rest, of this week.
The QNU believes the conciliation has made reasonable progress to-date and has therefore agreed to abide by an AIRC recommendation that industrial action known as "bed closures" be suspended this week "for as long as the Commission and the parties are of the view that reasonable progress is being made in the conciliation".
In making these recommendations on bed closures the AIRC has said safe patient care and reasonable workloads for nurses must be maintained.
Nearly all other work bans by QNU members at public hospitals and community healthcare facilities throughout the State remain in place. Nurses at about 90 facilities have implemented work bans.
The work bans are part of the Nurses: Worth Looking After campaign, launched by the QNU in March this year with the objective of rebuilding Queensland’s nursing workforce through:
- improving nurse wages;
- ensuring workloads are safe for both patients and staff;
- ensuring nurse education programs are appropriate and affordable;
- an improved and safer workplace environment; and
- the implementation of workforce planning strategies that address the needs of a predominately female and shift-working workforce.
QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said while bed closures due to industrial action have been suspended, reports are already coming in from hospitals that beds remain closed or have again been closed because of a shortage of nursing staff.
"For example, I have received a report that within a short time of opening 11 beds at Emerald Hospital on the weekend, nine were closed again because of a shortage of staff. I understand a similar situation exists at Hervey Bay Hospital. This means we are starting to see the real impact of the nurse shortage on service delivery. And in the end that is what this campaign is all about – solving the nurse shortage and rebuilding our public health services," Ms Hawksworth said.
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