Labor's health minister hopeful Ryan Park has promised Illawarra nurses he won't be "dicking people around" and will bring in improved staff ratios as quickly as he can if elected to the role on March 25.
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Quizzed by nurses and community members at a forum hosted by the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association in Shellharbour on Thursday night, the Keira MP said staffing would be his first priority if given the job.
However, he said he would need to make sure any moves to implement ratios came in within budget.
"It's so bad at the moment, so that has to be a laser like focus for me," Mr Park said of the hospital staffing crisis across the state.
"I want nurses and midwifes to be proud of the job they do."
Nurses have been campaigning and striking for more than a year to urge the Coalition government to implement a ratio system and pay increase to help attract and retain staff in an industry where many are threatening to leave or have already left.
Labor has promised to remove the public sector wage cap, to allow for unions to negotiate on pay, and put in place shift by shift, enforceable "safe staffing" in certain areas of the hospital, which stops short of what nurses have asked for.
I don't want to be dicking people around about this. If I can get it done faster, and get enough numbers [of nurses] back, and I can keep it within the budget I have been given at this stage, I'm going to go and do it.
- Ryan Park, Labor health spokesman
"We will start in the emergency department with one [nurse] to three [patients] ... then moving to other parts of the hospital," Mr Park said.
"I know it is not everything everyone wants straight away, I know that. But I also don't want to make promises I can't keep, and I want to make sure I get this process under way as quickly as possible.
"If I can move quickly, I can not only keep nurses and midwives because they can see some hope, but we can get some people [who have left the profession] back too."
Mr Park was joined by his Labor colleagues Shellharbour MP Anna Watson and candidate for Heathcote Maryanne Stuart, and Jamie Dixon (Shellharbour) and Cath Blakey (Wollongong) from the Greens.
The nurses union said all candidates from the region had been invited, and that the freshly announced Liberal candidates had offered to send a written statement.
Those who showed up spent the forum mostly in agreement on ratios and education incentives, with most questions directed at Mr Park, who Labor leader Chris Minns has said will lead the health portfolio if his party wins government.
Asked when he would commit to ratios in mental health, which is outside of what Labor has promised, Mr Park was measured and realistic.
"I don't want to be dicking people around about this," he said.
"If I can get it done faster, and get enough numbers [of nurses] back, and I can keep it within the budget I have been given at this stage, I'm going to go and do it.
"There are the areas we are starting with, but it's not where we finish with but I can't give you a timeline."
Ms Blakey said Greens were fully backing the union's award claim, as well as campaigning for a 15 per cent pay rise for nurse to make the job more attractive for current and future staff.
While her party is unlikely to win government, she said voters should consider where they direct their preferences in the upper and lower house to give the Greens more power to negotiate.
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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.
