There are currently more than 680 vacant positions for nurses and midwives in NSW public hospitals – with Wollongong named by NSW Labor as one of those in greatest need.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Labor’s health spokesman Walt Secord said the figures from the NSW government’s own jobs website showed that it was getting its priorities wrong and “putting stadiums before babies and mums”.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said that locally nurses and midwives, and parents’ groups, had been campaigning for more staff at Wollongong Hospital’s maternity unit for over six months.
“While staff have acknowledged some improvements in terms of the management and operation of maternity services, there remains a pressing need for more staff in that section,” he said.
“Specifically the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District (ISLHD) continues to look for a clinical midwifery educator, for registered nurses with midwifery, and for nurses with expertise in post anaesthetic care – for new mothers who’ve had Caesareans.
“These roles are critically important as we need to make sure that mothers are well cared for during the birthing process and beyond.
“Staff at Wollongong’s maternity unit do an amazing job under immense pressure, but they need additional support.”
Mr Scully said a “baby boom” in the region – and in areas like western Sydney – made optimum staffing levels vital. In 2017 there were over 2500 babies born at Wollongong Hospital.
“The Illawarra is a growing region – I don’t know that those who are handing out budget allocations are necessarily understanding the dynamics of our population growth and how it’s affecting health services locally,” he said.
Mr Secord said the lack of resourcing affected the safety of mothers, babies – and staff.
“The Berejiklian government has a clear strategy here: don’t fill positions; push existing staff to breaking point and then claim to be great economic managers – but all the while jeopardising patient safety,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the government has the wrong priorities. They prefer to spend $2.2 billion on stadiums rather than improving patient safety and care for newborns and their mums.”
However ISLHD Acting Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery, Karen Tuqiri, said the provision of safe and high quality care to mothers, babies and families was the district’s highest priority.
“An important part of this is ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place,” she said.
“Wollongong Hospital spends more than $19 million a year on its maternity service and has 96.5 full time equivalent (FTE) midwife positions, including eight new gradate midwives who commenced this year.”
She said Wollongong Hospital currently had four FTE permanent midwifery vacancies and 5.6 FTE temporary vacancies. These vacancies were backfilled by casual, part-time and agency staff, as well as recruitment.
Ms Tuqiri said Wollongong Hospital was focused on recruiting to the vacant positions through a number of strategies, including a centralised and fast-tracked recruitment process with ongoing rolling advertisements in place as well as advertisements for casual registered midwives.
A midwifery capacity-building strategy had also been established for internal staff, while registered nurses who also held midwifery registration were given the opportunity to rotate through maternity services.
“We also support the Bachelor of Midwifery program and currently have nine student midwives working within Wollongong Hospital,” she said.
.
