Next month there will be a public forum on ‘Vital Work’, with local nurses and midwives, exploring the medical staffing crisis.
Mandy Nolan, local community advocate and Greens Candidate for Richmond says our local hospitals are in a staffing crisis.
‘With better wages and conditions just over the border, there is a massive attrition of nurses and midwives to Queensland, leaving our hospitals understaffed and overworked,’ she said.
‘In the last few months, they’ve been striking for the pay rise they were promised. But it still hasn’t been delivered. They’re at breaking point and they need the community to support them.’
Ms Nolan says nurses and midwives in NSW are being forced to beg for a 15 per cent pay rise after suffering an effective pay cut of 10 per cent since 2020.
Meanwhile, Queensland is offering $20,000 sign-on and retention bonuses for healthcare workers who move from interstate, and up to $70,000 for those relocating to rural or remote areas for over two years.
This disparity has led to a significant exodus of skilled workers, with NSW Health reporting a 13.1 per cent loss in its nursing workforce in 2022-23.
Vital Work
As a response, Mandy Nolan will host ‘Vital Work’, a forum on the crisis facing our nurses, midwives and healthcare workers across the Northern Rivers. Ms Nolan will be joined by Dr Amanda Cohn, Greens NSW Health spokesperson, and panellists including:
- Kristin Ryan-Agnew, Tweed Branch President, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association and Registered Nurse and Midwife.
- Angie Gittus, Murwillumbah Branch Secretary NSW Nurses and Midwives Association and Registered Nurse.
- Heather Dunn, Registered Nurse and Midwife and NSWNMA Lismore Member.
The public forum will be held at 6pm, Wednesday 6 November, at Banora Point Community Centre, Corner Leisure Drive and Woodlands Drive, Banora Point.
Organisers says RSVPs are essential, at: www.mandy4richmond.com/vital_work
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