The Narrandera Branch of NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) Union members took to the streets as part of strike action last Wednesday (November 23).

About 15 Narrandera NSWNMA Union Members and numerous community representatives showed their support during a march in East Street.

NSWNMA Union Members met on the corner of East Street and Douglas Street at 10.30am and marched up and down the main street for one hour.

Taking a stance, the members highlighted their plight of fighting for safer staffing levels by means of more acceptable nurse-to-patient ratios.

Some members who were working on the day attended the march only during their allocated break and while working their shift, they wore the colour red, did not perform any non-nursing tasks and refused overtime for a period of 24 hours.

NSWNMA Union Narrandera Branch Secretary Lauren Hutchins said the purpose of the march was to raise community awareness about their situation.

“Again, it was to highlight to the NSW Government the situation that our hospitals are struggling in, especially those like us in rural areas who not only are we the nurses, but we are your community, your neighbours,” she said.

“This march will hopefully highlight the need for ratios to provide our local community the care they deserve.

“We will continue to do what we have to do until the NSW Government listens to us and takes the safety of our patients seriously and provides ratios in line with all surrounding states of NSW.”

Ms Hutchins was buoyed by the support shown by the public. She said feedback from the public was “overwhelmingly positive”.

“Our small hospital and staff are well respected in our community, however it is important that we give the community an honest picture of our struggle to achieve the safest outcomes for our patients – not just the amazing care they see on the surface,” Ms Hutchins said.

“At times nurses are allocated six to seven patients per shift and expected to provide all patients with individualised care, complete all documentation and also act as the ward clerk, discharge planner, social worker and cleaner.

“As rural nurses we don’t have other staff to do these other tasks on a daily basis.

“This is expected while providing nursing care to Covid-positive patients and dealing with the unknown of the emergencies that come through the door, ranging from asthmatic children, motor vehicle accident, or a heart attack, which takes all the nurses off the floor to provide the minimal appropriate care in an arrest situation in the emergency department.

“Our nurses are exhausted; there is so much pressure on our very junior workforce and also on our dwindling numbers of experienced nurses to be able to continuously work overtime and extra shifts in order to support each other and only just fill the shifts at a minimum.”

Ms Hutchins realises there are limited options available to the nurses and midwives to persuade the government to act.

“There’s not much more we can do,” she said.

The NSW Government knows the predicament of the hospital staff’s daily struggle, but Ms Hutchins is annoyed it won’t act to help improve the situation.

“The NSW Government is very aware of this and yet they continue to rely on the goodwill and caring nature of nurses,” she said.

“The government knows we won’t put our patients at risk or let our community down.

“We get into nursing to care, to make a difference in someone’s life, to help make it better.”

“We are currently letting our patients down – something is wrong on the inside if nurses are outside.”

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 1 December 2022.