27 August 2003

Nurses step up Queensland campaign to save Medicare

Nurses Week of Action – Cairns nurses collecting signatures at hospital tomorrow

As part of a developing union and community campaign to reverse the Howard Government’s dismantling of Australia’s universal, taxpayer funded healthcare system, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) officials and members are this week taking part in a Medicare Week of Action across Queensland.

As part of the Week of Action QNU members at Cairns Base Hospital will set up an information stall in the foyer of Cairns Base Hospital at lunchtime tomorrow – from noon on 28 August - and collect signatures on the national petition in support of Medicare. Cairns residents will also be able to sign the petition at the hospital at other times during the week – copies will be available in most of the wards.

The local contacts are Cairns QNU organiser, Ross Tainton, on 0417- 760 155 and Cairns Base QNU representative, Pat Nicholls, on 0417-566 620.

The QNU believes that over recent decades Australia developed a world-class health system, one that provided certainty for all Australians regardless of income. But recently consumers have faced a drastic reduction in bulk billing, a significant increase in out-of-pocket expenses and growing hospital waiting lists for treatments and procedures. It is time to take a stand against this deliberate undermining of Medicare by the Howard Government.  

The QNU believes all Australians must be able to access quality health and aged care services in a timely fashion—this is a basic human right and reflects Australia’s commitment to a “fair go” for all.

As evidenced by the strong stand taken on this issue by delegates at the QNU’s recent annual conference, nurses do not want to see Medicare and our public health system undermined by changes that reduce the ability of people to access health care or be bulk-billed for medical treatment. They do not want to see Medicare changed into a US style two-tier system that requires co-payment to doctors by everybody except people receiving government income support.

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27 August 2003

Nurses step up Queensland campaign to save Medicare
Nurses Week of Action gets underway
Senate Committee takes evidence in Queensland

As part of a developing union and community campaign to reverse the Howard Government’s dismantling of Australia’s universal, taxpayer funded healthcare system, the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) officials and members are this week taking part in a Medicare Week of Action across Queensland.

The QNU believes that over recent decades Australia developed a world-class health system, one that provided certainty for all Australians regardless of income. But recently consumers have faced a drastic reduction in bulk billing, a significant increase in out-of-pocket expenses and growing hospital waiting lists for treatments and procedures. It is time to take a stand against this deliberate undermining of Medicare by the Howard Government.  

The QNU believes all Australians must be able to access quality health and aged care services in a timely fashion—this is a basic human right and reflects Australia’s commitment to a “fair go” for all.

As evidenced by the strong stand taken on this issue by delegates at the QNU’s recent annual conference, nurses do not want to see Medicare and our public health system undermined by changes that reduce the ability of people to access health care or be bulk-billed for medical treatment. They do not want to see Medicare changed into a US style two-tier system that requires co-payment to doctors by everybody except people receiving government income support.

Details of events and hearings over next two days

Monday 25 August

1.  Brisbane
Major Medicare Campaign information meeting

Organised by the Public Hospitals, Health and Medicare Alliance of Queensland (PHHAMAQ), a pro-Medicare organisation of which the QNU is a prominent member.

Venue: Ithaca Room, Brisbane City Hall
Time: 7.00pm – 8.30pm

Speakers include:

• Dr Peter Davoren (Doctors Reform Society)
• Brian Frost (Australian Pensioners and Superannuants League Qld)
• Kathy Kendall (Health Consumer’s network)
• Grace Grace (Qld Council of Unions)
• (MC is Shirley Watters from Queensland Council of Social Services)

Prince Charles Hospital, Chermside - Lunchtime petition signing in hospital foyer.

2.  Bundaberg
Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Medicare sits in Bundaberg

Venue: Riverside Burnett Motel
Time: 8.45am – 4.30pm

PLEASE NOTE: Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) vice-president and Bundaberg Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) president, Cheryl Dorron, is scheduled to give evidence to this committee at 1.30pm today.

Bundaberg petition signing

Bundaberg residents wishing to sign a petition in support of Medicare can do so at the following tow locations:

• Bundaberg QCU building, 44 Maryborough St – Tuesday to Friday, 10.00am - 4.00pm
• Bundaberg Base Hospital foyer.

Bundaberg media contact: Cheryl Dorron 0409-526 141

3. Townsville General Hospital
Marquee being set up across from the entrance to Townsville General Hospital between 9.00am and 4.00pm:

• petitions can be signed
• BBQ at lunch time
• green and gold balloons.

Media contact: QNU Townsville office 4772 5411

Tuesday 26 August
QNU to give evidence to Brisbane hearings of Senate Select Committee Inquiry into Medicare

Time: 8.45am
Venue: Sherwood Room, Brisbane City Hall

QNU witnesses: Secretary, Gay Hawksworth, and Project Officer, Beth Mohle

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14 August 2003

Public hospitals ambulance by-pass and bed availability problems

• Nurses reject indiscriminate opening of extra beds
• Government inaction on staffing and bed rationing are major causes of the growing problems

The Queensland Nurses Union (QNU) today warned the Queensland Government, Brisbane’s Mater Public Hospital and doctors groups that the indiscriminate opening of extra beds in public hospitals, to deal with bed-block problems in hospital emergency departments, would be a breach of the nursing workloads provisions of the new nurses award, recently made by the full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC).

QNU secretary, Gay Hawksworth, said any new beds that are opened have to be staffed with the proper number of nurses or the opening of these beds is a breach of the new award.

“The QNU will not tolerate a breach of the award in this way. We believe the Government’s failure to properly staff emergency departments, in accordance with Section 17 of the new award, could also be a breach of the award and this is another issue we are currently investigating,” Ms Hawksworth said.

Amongst other things Section 17 of the Nurses (Queensland Health) – Section 170MX Award 2003 (and the similar Mater Public Hospitals award), dealing with workload management, states:

• Nursing workload management in Queensland Health will be in accordance with The Business Planning Framework: Nursing Resources, as amended from time to time by agreement between the parties, which was developed in consultation with the union and published in July 2001, to address workloads of nurses in Queensland Health.
• This approach to nursing resource management focuses on achieving a balance between service demand and the supply of nursing resources necessary to meet the identified demand. The framework will be utilised to identify minimum, consistent and enforceable nursing hours per patient day for clinical units.
• Staffing will be based on established hours per patient day in each clinical unit and will be varied in accordance with changing acuity and activity. Notional ward/unit based nurse-patient ratios will be defined. Patient safety and sustainable workloads will be the guiding principles in defining the nursing hours required.
• A maximum number of available beds per clinical unit will be calculated by reference to the rostered productive hours and the Nursing Hours Per Patient Day for the clinical unit on any particular day.
• Bed availability will be defined at the clinical level in accordance with the productive nursing hours available.

Ms Hawksworth said these award provisions are pretty clear and it means the State Government cannot overload its nurses to fix a problem that has been created by government rationing, at the State and federal levels, of public hospital services.

“We support the opening of more public hospital beds and the increasing of public hospital services, but those beds and services must be fully and safely staffed. And that applies to staffing and services in emergency departments as well.

“The rationing of public hospital services by the State and Federal governments is putting enormous pressure on emergency departments and emergency nurses. There is no denying this fact. The bed closure figures for Queensland public hospitals speak for themselves. Between 1998-99 and 2001-02 the State Government has cut the number of public acute hospital beds from 9814 to 9376 (See AIHW hospital statistics reports). Is it any wonder hospitals are often struggling to find beds for patients?

“As for blaming colds and the flu for the current problems, that is a cop out. Winter is not an unpredictable situation. It just so happens it occurs at the same time every year and has been for quite some time. Yet Queensland Health, despite assurances to the contrary, still refuses to develop effective strategies for dealing with the special health care problems it creates.

“QNU officials actually met with Queensland Health officials on May 30 this year about the issue because we did not want to see a repeat of previous years when bed block was rife, nurses on the evening shift were forced to work until 3.00am or nurses on the morning shift were forced to start at 3.00am because of staff shortages and large numbers of nurses were called in on their days off or called back from annual leave.

“We were assured that the various hospitals had winter bed management strategies in place this year. Clearly those assurances were meaningless. In fact, at a meeting last week with QNU officials emergency department nurses from Nambour, Caboolture, Redcliffe, Royal Children’s, Royal Brisbane, Princess Alexandra, Logan, QE II, Ipswich and Gold Coast hospitals all reported they had patients on trolleys in corridors, who should be in a ward. These nurses reported they currently don’t even have time to give a lot of basic care, let alone really good care.

“In what can only be described as grossly irresponsible, Queensland Health will not even admit there is a problem in emergency departments, a nurse shortage that is impacting on the capacity to provide a safe service or a budget policy of rationing services. Putting hospitals on ambulance by-pass is not a Winter strategy, it is an emergency strategy. It is not a thought-out response to a predictable event like seasonal change.

“What we need is a proper plan for managing activity in emergency departments and a stop to the rationing that is cutting back bed availability in public hospital wards and forcing more and more people to either forgo timely care or pay out for expensive private care,” Ms Hawksworth said.

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