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In threes
Photo : Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images
NSW nurses and midwives strike for the third time this year .
Hundreds of nurses and midwives across 80 NSW hospitals walked off the job on 28 June to demand the government raise wages and address staff shortages .
Members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association ( NSWNMA ) stopped work for between two and 24 hours ,
marking the third strike held by the union this year .
The action went ahead despite a ruling from the Industrial Relations Commission ( IRC ) which ordered the union “ must immediately cease organising and refrain from taking industrial action on 28 June 2022 ”.
The union went ahead with a mass meeting at Sydney Town Hall , with regional members participating via Zoom .
NSWNMA acting general secretary Shaye Candish said the government has continued to ignore nurses ’ calls for staffing ratios and targeted health funding .
“ The government is continuing to ignore the pleas of highly-skilled clinical professionals who remain extremely worried about the delivery of safe patient care now and into the future ,” she said .
“ Our members need these taxpayer dollars to be delivered directly into nursing and midwifery staffing , rather than the thousands of dollars our members report being spent right now on cupcakes .
“ The insensitivity is offensive , given we still have nurses and midwives working understaffed every day .”
NSWNMA general secretary Michael Whaites said nurses were “ desperate to be heard ”.
“ Until our members experience improvements to their workloads or witness meaningful changes to address workload fatigue , sadly , we ’ ll continue to see nurses and midwives leaving ,” Whaites said . ■
‘ Step up ’
Australian hospitals running low on blood .
Australian hospitals have issued a plea for blood donations after back-to-back disasters have diminished supplies .
Floods , road closures , the flu season and Covid-19 are all being blamed for reducing people ’ s ability to donate lifesaving blood .
2 | nursingreview . com . au
With the impact of recent flooding , stocks in NSW have been particularly hard hit .
Supplies of platelets are being sent to the state from Queensland and Victoria , but an additional 5500 donors are required this week to meet national demand .
“ Many Sydneysiders and those on the north and south coasts of NSW have been impacted by devastating flood events ; the inability to leave home to donate blood or prioritise this right now is understandable ,” Lifeblood spokesperson Cath Stone said .
“ In addition , colds , flu and Covid are continuing to sideline donors , with one in two appointments not being attended . Disruptions to public transport and school holidays could also be keeping donors away .
“ As a national organisation , we need others around the country to step up and ensure patients continue to receive the blood and blood products they need .”
Platelets are the part of blood used to stop bleeding in accidents , emergencies and chemotherapy .
However , they also only have a shelf life of seven days and therefore cannot be stockpiled .
On a normal week , 33,000 donations are needed . Around one third of them usually come from donors in NSW .
All blood types are required , but the call is particularly strong for O negative donors – the universal blood type used in emergencies .
“ We need an additional 700 O negative blood donations over the next week to meet demand ,” Ms Stone said .
“ If you are O negative , someone in your family could be too , so please talk to your family and encourage them to donate .” ■