By Paul Burns
BRISBANE -- Queensland hospitals are in a state of turmoil, with the state government refusing to release funds to alleviate chronic under-staffing.
Nurses at the Royal Brisbane Hospital are voting in the week beginning October 17 on whether to impose strict staff to patient ratios for the safety of both.
Queensland Nurses Union secretary Dennis Jones said on October 15 that the under-staffing situation was so acute it was dangerous. Nurses could no longer provide safe care of patients at the hospital.
Actions around the staffing issue at several hospitals began some weeks ago when the nurses' union held a series of rallies. To date, the nurses have achieved some small successes in a few hospitals, at a local level only.
Beth Mihle, nurses' union organiser for Brisbane North region, said, “It will be a long process to get things back to normal after years of neglect”.
It has not been a united struggle. The Australian Workers Union, which covers wardspersons, store persons, catering and laundry services within the hospitals, has followed a different path.
Rank-and-file AWU members at the RBH recently voted to ban overtime and various other work practices. The Health Department then took the AWU to the Industrial Relations Commission.
The workers were forced to lift the bans to allow an industrial commissioner to visit the hospital to assess the extent of under-staffing. However, if no satisfactory solution results from arbitration, work bans will be reimposed.
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