A little over two months ago when burnt out Illawarra nurses and midwives took to the streets to protest over their working conditions and pay, many held signs with messages like "thank you doesn't pay the rent".
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So it was welcome news on Monday when NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet's message of gratitude was accompanied by an announcement of a $3000 bonus payment for permanent NSW Health staff in recognition of the efforts and sacrifices that they have made during the pandemic.
However, Wollongong Hospital's NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association branch officials said they did not believe the government's new measures would address the serious workloads and staffing crisis impacting the state's hospital system.
"We think this is a distraction - so for young, struggling people a $3000 payment is going to be great, but in a couple of months, that money is not going to help anyone own a home or be contributing to your super," the nurses union branch officials said.
It's an empty promise to the public to hire 10,000 new nurses if they are just going to leave the profession.
- NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Wollongong branch officials
The Premier also announced that the government would lift its wage cap from 2.5 to to 3 per cent in the next financial year and up to 3.5 per cent the following year if staff contribute to "productivity gains".
This is below the 5.1 per cent the wider union movement has been campaigning for - and the 4.75 per cent nurses are asking for - and many major unions have already said they will continue to take industrial action to have the wage cap removed completely.
Mr Perrottet also said NSW's struggling health system would get a $4.5 billion staffing boost with an extra 10,000 nurses, doctors and other health staff to be hired over four years.
He said this would be the biggest boost in the health workforce in the state's history, with midwives, paramedics, pathologists, pharmacists and allied health professionals among the 10,148 full-time recruits.
Wollongong nurses welcomed new recruitment, but said the government's budget package would be worthless if they did not also meaningfully improve wages and change the dire working conditions, which have led to "masses" of nurses and midwives leaving the profession.
"A $3000 payment and a 3 per cent pay rise will be a short term gain for a long term loss, and we don't want the public to lose site of the real issue here, which is the amount of nurses looking after you on the floor," the Wollongong NSWNMA branch executive members said.
"It's not going to help the public who are waiting hours in the ED, or the new mums who can't see a midwife and go home with bleeding nipples and can't breastfeed their baby, or the people in ICU.
"It's an empty promise to the public to hire 10,000 new staff if they are just going to leave the profession."
The nurses union's Acting Assistant General Secretary Michael Whaites said the wages cap rise from 2.5 to 3 per cent this year was a slap in the face, as it "doesn't even come close to the current inflation rate, which will leave nurses and midwives' real wages going backwards."
Mr Perrottet said he knew there would be different views about the wages policy, but believed it was "fair and reasonable".
"We know that we are going into a challenging time with rising inflation and the reserve bank is meeting tomorrow," he said, alluding to another expected interest rate rise.
"It's going to be difficult for everyone in our state.
"We factored a lot of matters into coming to this final position. Our job as a responsible government is to make decisions that are best for everyone across our state."
The government says 7,674 of its new workers will be recruited in the first year, to help ease pressure on COVID-fatigued health staff and fast-track more elective surgery for patients.
Wollongong nurses said they wanted to hear more about exactly how these new staff would be allocated, across regions and professions, and did not believe the recruitment plan would work long term if the system itself did not change.
"What nurse would want to come back to the health system if it's not being changed?," the union executive said.
"The only way you are going to retain staff is if we get proper [staff to patient] ratios. As it is, we spend three years training up junior nurses who come into the system and on mass, they are already leaving."
Mr Perottet said NSW was "indebted" to health workers for their selfless efforts throughout the pandemic.
"For a long time there was no vaccine and they risked their lives each day to care for patients," he said.
"This record investment will help us care for health staff across the state, providing the respite and back-up they need. It will also boost staff numbers in hospitals to deliver quality health care closer to home, ensuring better health outcomes and a brighter future for NSW families."
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
