Page 1868 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 May 2013
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Importantly today, nurses and midwives also increasingly work in areas of primary health care and education. They are working to help us not get sick and making sure we live healthier lives.
I acknowledge the vital work all Canberran nurses and midwives play in the health and wellbeing of every member of our community. On a personal note, I have been very fortunate on many occasions to have had an association with the professional organisations which support our health practitioners. I have, for example, on a number of occasions attended the Australian College of Midwives ACT annual oration during international midwives week. I am normally the only bloke there. Last year the annual oration was the occasion for Christina Wilson to be awarded the Australian College of Midwives ACT midwife of the year for 2012. I was able to share insights with Christina as well as author Rhodanthe Lipsett OAM, who is a legend amongst midwives and has over 50 years experience in caring for newborn babies and mothers. She very generously signed and gave me a copy of her book. Listening to the views of such respected professionals has been a personal pleasure and education for me.
I have also engaged very positively over the last four and half years with the Australian Nursing Federation locally. Jenny Miragaya from the ANF has attended all of the opposition’s health forums that we have conducted and has been a great assistance to me personally in helping to shape our health policy and develop my understanding of the role that nurses and midwives play within our complex health system. The modern role of a nurse or midwife is complex.
The professionalism of nurses and midwives who work in the community is evidenced by their role to—and I quote from the Health Directorate—take a leading role in implementing the principles of primary health care; have a unique knowledge of the specialty areas in which they work; have the capacity to practise autonomously within a diverse setting; work in partnership with clients and their carers in planning their care and helping them to achieve an optimum level of health and wellbeing; recognise there are multiple social determinants of health and, therefore, valuing cooperation with other health professionals and multi-sectorial collaboration; and demonstrate a strong sense of compassion and dedication.
While applauding the great service of our health professionals, it would be disingenuous of me not to reflect a little bit on the way this Assembly influences the capacity of our nurses and midwives to deliver their best. We need to deliver good public governance so that our nurses and midwives can continue to deliver good health outcomes. Our health professionals should expect to be able to work in an environment that promotes strong work ethics and a healthy culture. We need to ensure that bullying, nepotism and fear of failure due to pressure from disjointed or ambiguous management do not undermine an otherwise strong and vital profession. We need public policy which supports and enhances their professional capabilities.
With this in mind, I ask whether the Labor-Greens government have learned from the way they have treated our nurses and midwives in the wake of issues like the maternity bullying that we saw in the lead-up to 2010, the data doctoring and other issues at the Canberra Hospital in the last years, and particularly the pressure that nurses and midwives have been put under with the poor management of the new women and children’s hospital and the way that has been delivered.
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