NSW Nurses Renew Calls for Improved Staff-Patient Ratios
New South Wales nurses and midwives have renewed their calls for better safe staff-to-patient ratios, which they say have put a strain on hospital system in a confronting television commercial.
However, with the state election just six months away, neither the New South Wales government nor the Labor opposition have responded so far to the call. Instead, both have vowed to recruit more paramedics.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) unveiled a new TV commercial on Sept. 15, which showed an exhausted nurse preparing a hospital bed following the death of a patient in an overcrowded ward.
NSWNMA General Secretary Shaye Candish said the scenario shown “is not an exaggeration” and is meant to demonstrate the poor outcomes when nurses and midwives have too many patients and “simply cannot supervise closely enough.”…