Nursing staff at Murwillumbah Hospital were shocked and saddened earlier this week to find out that the surgical unit of the hospital will be closing and that they had just one week to decide what their future employment would be.
Dozens of nurses attended the meeting that they knew was coming, but none had any idea how the meeting would impact their lives.
Nurses in tears
New South Wales, Nurses and Midwives union delegate for the Murwillumbah Hospital, and Branch Secretary of our NSWNMA Association, Angie Gittus, said that she had been inundated with calls, texts and had been approached by many nurses who were distressed and in tears. She said there was a document circulated last year that said there would be changes to the types of operations they were doing in Murwillumbah.
She spoke to The Echo yesterday on behalf of the staff
‘Everybody could read between the lines, it meant there would be no more in-patient surgical patients at Murwillumbah.
‘At the time, everybody said, “what does that mean for us?” The staff asked, “are you closing our ward? What happens to us and the surgical ward?” And they said. “we can’t say yet we’re trying to work out what to do with you, we don’t have the information. We’re working with the senior management to try and work out how we manage this and what we do with you and what will happen to the ward”, but they never explicitly said that it would close.
‘Then at the meeting on Tuesday, the executive that came from Lismore, our senior leadership, listened to people being upset, and then said, “We just don’t understand why you’re so shocked by this, it was clearly a given”.’
Jobs need to match the skill set
‘What that meant is that those staff didn’t have the opportunity to apply for jobs elsewhere, that match their skill set. And they feel the reason that they didn’t tell us what was going on, is because the transition from the old Tweed [hospital] to the new Tweed Valley [hospital] is absolutely dependent on having a functional surgical ward to shift all the workload while they’re moving. And if all of those staff had said they were leaving to look for something that would suit them, there wouldn’t be a functional surgical ward.’
‘The staff got quite upset. The feeling is that people have been kept in the dark – they’re not naive – no nurse believed that there was going to be no change, but they didn’t know that they were going to close their ward completely.
‘They thought that they would perhaps be a surgical step-down unit for the less acute patients that don’t discharge in the right timeframe. They thought they would be picking up those jobs and taking a bit of overflow from Tweed Valley and still be functional. And that’s because nobody ever explicitly said to them, “your ward is closing” – even to the point that they were still employing. They had two new grads coming to start at the hospital in the next few weeks.’
Key health care services
Chief Executive, Northern NSW Local Health District Murwillumbah District Hospital (MDH), Tracey Maisey, said the facility will continue to provide key health care services to the Tweed Valley community when the new Tweed Valley Hospital (TVH) becomes operational in May.
‘As part of the Tweed-Byron network, MDH services will complement those provided at the new Tweed Valley Hospital, ensuring access to safe and high-quality healthcare continues across the region,’ said Ms Maisey.
No redundancies
‘There will be no redundancies as a result of the service changes as impacted staff will continue working either at MDH in alternative positions, or transfer to TVH.
‘Northern NSW Local Health District is committed to retaining all our permanent workforce and will work with staff and our union partners to enable a smooth transition.
Ms Maisey said the hospital values its extremely dedicated and skilled workforce, and the reputation of Murwillumbah District Hospital staff for providing excellent patient care is well known.
Staff will be updated and supported
‘Staff will be kept updated and supported throughout these changes, and we’ll ensure staff and community representatives are informed and consulted through this transition.
‘As announced in mid-2022, there will be some changes to the surgical services provided at MDH, once TVH opens. MDH will then change to providing day-surgery cases only, with no overnight inpatient surgical admissions. Inpatient surgical services will transfer to TVH, utilising the state-of-the-art theatre suite, digitised technology and enhanced specialty patient support, such as the ICU.’
One week to decide the future
Ms Gittus said staff got notice on Tuesday that they had one week to decide on three options – there’s no redundancies being offered.’
The choices are working at the new Tweed Valley Hospital; working some of their shifts at Tweed Valley and some at Murwillumbah, or staying in Murwillumbah.
‘The executive said they would work with staff to find the best place for them to be happy. So if they choose to stay in Murwillumbah, some of the staff might choose to move into another ward and they’ll get training and support to move into it. But if they choose to go to Tweed Valley Hospital at the moment, there’s no guarantee that they will get a like-for-like job swap or that they’ll be working in a surgical ward. And they might find themselves on a ward which isn’t in their skill set.
‘There’s a lot of fear about moving with nothing definite in place and they also feel that they’ve been robbed of the opportunity to apply for jobs outside of this LHD because they don’t have time now.’
Saffin shocked at the news
Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin says she was shocked at the news of changes to Murwillumbah Hospital services delivered to staff this week by Northern NSWLHD management.
Ms Saffin said the news was badly delivered.
‘This came as a body blow to staff, with only nine weeks notice of the changes, and shows a lack of leadership of the Northern NSW LHD.
‘Change is hard at the best of times and we have not had the best of times, and it was brutally delivered to staff and no consultation with the community at all.’
Community come first
‘Community come first with me and I shall stand up for them no matter what’.
‘What needs to happen now is a stay put on any action and a community and staff process of respectful and proper consultation so that locals get the best services and staff are treated with the respect they deserve.’
‘Any changes to come as a result of the Tweed Hospital opening cannot be at the expense of the Murwillumbah Community.
‘They must be in line with what was communicated to staff and the public by the former Chief Executive Wayne Jones in August 2022.
‘Staff were told in 2022 that the vast majority of existing services at Murwillumbah Hospital would remain in place, including inpatient wards, with only some surgical services and acute inpatient services moved to Tweed.
‘The HSU says staff and unions were ambushed by the news on Tuesday afternoon.
‘It is not on and I shall stand with our frontline health staff to ensure that the promises given are honoured.’
Nurses are very anxious
Ms Gittus says the nurses are very anxious. ‘They have lives outside of work. Any change has to work with that. There’s a lot of anxiety and an incredible sense of being betrayed, disrespected and not valued.’
‘What we need to see happen is for our leadership to ensure that those displaced staff are guaranteed like-for-like employment, where they’re guaranteed to be working as surgical nurses, if that’s what they choose. They should be given preference over imported staff.’
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