Chronic understaffing at Shellharbour Hospital has resulted in patients being treated in front of one another in corridors and causing more and more nurses choosing to leave their profession, unions say.
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At the launch of a new report showing a huge increase in job vacancies for nurses, teachers, paramedics and other essential workers over the past five years, the president of the local mental health branch of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Glenn Hayes said working conditions were impossible.
"We're losing staff all the time, there are so many full-time jobs that can't be filled and that means we can't fill shifts," he said.
"We have nurses doing almost permanent overtime on a regular basis and the burn out is atrocious."
"Our biggest concern is that patients are falling under the radar, we're having people readmitted simply because we can't provide the care we're supposed to be delivering."
Unions NSW Secretary Mark Morey said the commissioned report found jobs for nurses ranked fourth in a list of the most advertised essential professions in the Illawarra, while vacancies for education professionals and carers tripled in the region.
It also found that, between 2017-2022, the growth in vacancies for essential occupations in the Illawarra grew by 180.5% compared to 108.7% for other occupations.
"Workers are going backwards in their pay, they are being overworked and working in environments where there isn't adequate staff," he said.
Mr Hayes said Shellharbour Hospital was sometimes so short-staffed that nurses were unable to respond to emergency situations.
"It's heartbreaking, and people turn up for the overtime because of their colleagues and because of the people we are looking after because if we don't do it, they don't get care," he said.
"It's going to cost lives, and it's costing people their jobs and careers."
"There are patients being placed in corridors where they don't have access to oxygen and all the other things they get access to at the bedside, because the wards can't be staffed.
"It's really dangerous - they're having procedures, and if they're incontinent even, they are being changed in the corridor in front of people."
"I've lost so many colleagues, and I come home every day thinking about things I could have, should have, would have done."
Mr Morey said the report was proof the state's health and education systems were in crisis.
"Current staff are looking at exiting their professions and finding jobs that are better or similar paying but with less stress, and if we don't retain those staff now, we're not going to have enough staff to keep services going before we can recruit new staff into health and education services," he said.
He said removing the wage cap would help address staff retention..
However, Premier Dominic Perrottet has repeatedly defended the state's three per cent wage cap saying it is "fair and reasonable".
He has explained it is necessary to keep inflation in check and the state's budget balanced for future investments in major infrastructure projects.
Labor has said it will remove the pay cap and negotiate with unions, and Mr Morey this position was welcome, as he believed there were cost savings to be found at the top end of the bureaucracy to fund a wage rise for essential workers.
However, he said staff retention and working conditions would be important for all parties to address during the election lead up.
Last week, when Shellharbour nurses held a rally over their staffing and safety concerns, and Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District spokesperson said the district continued to engage in discussions with the NSWNMA about staff concerns..
"Hospitals across the District, including Shellharbour, have been experiencing high demand for emergency care and hospital admissions in recent times," the spokesperson said.
They said the district was continuing to roll out a recruitment campaign to attract additional staff from throughout NSW, Australia and other parts of the world to all areas of the region.
"Like all ISLHD facilities, Shellharbour Hospital has workforce surge and demand management plans in place to ensure that safe standards for patient care and adequate staffing are maintained."
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.
