A local MP has backed the nurses campaign where bed closures in the state’s public hospitals are approaching 500.
The New South Wales Nurses Association started closing beds this month in a campaign for one nurse to four patients in hospitals and community health centres.
It says at times one nurse is responsible for seven or eight patients.
The union said since industrial action started, 451 beds at 62 hospitals have closed and more closures are expected in Bathurst and Maitland today.
The member for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire is sympathetic to the nurses position.
The Liberal MP said nurses in Wagga have responsibly reopened beds during ambulance block in recent days.
Mr Maguire said the nurses have community support and the Health Minister Carmel Tebbut should give the same.
“She said she’s not going to be bullied into negotiations, or be blackmailed into negotiations” Mr Maguire said.
“If she’d have gone in with good will earlier, this wouldn’t have been a problem. And when you consider there are over a thousand positions unfilled in our public hospitals, you can understand why our nurses are so upset with this government,” said Mr Maguire.
The Opposition has pledged to honour the Industrial Commission’s ruling in the dispute.
The New South Wales government will meet with the New South Wales Nurses Association today.
The Association’s Acting General Secretary, Judith Kiedja says the health department has called today’s meeting at the Industrial Relations Comission.
“I’m sincerely hoping that the government has used the last one and half weeks to understand the breadth and depth of feeling,” she said.
“Because we’ve got our officers out there walking the wards while this is happening, we’re hearing some really, really ordinary stories about the staffing levels.”
“And we’re just hoping that the government has been able to take notice of that,” said Ms Kiedja.
Source: www.abc.net.au
