Page 2437 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Nursing in any part of the system is a rewarding but challenging role. Aside from the day-to-day support offered to patients, carers and families, we know there are issues with our health system faced by our front-line staff. The Minister for Health and I, along with the leadership in Canberra Health Services and ACT Health, recognise the need for improvement in the workplaces of our health professionals. Some of the challenges we face have been discussed in this place before and have been well publicised, and I am deeply conscious of them.
In December 2018, together with the former Minister for Health and Wellbeing, I launched the ACT Health Directorate’s strategy to improve the workplace health and safety of nurses and midwives. The strategy—nurses and midwives: towards a safer culture, the first step—outlines the Health Directorate’s vision for an ACT public healthcare system where staff, patients and visitors are protected from harm and feel safe at all times. It is a fundamental right that staff have when they turn up to work.
As I have said in this place before, our staff, particularly in mental health, accept that there is an element of risk, but we should do everything we can to design a system that minimises that risk so that the default position is that staff will have a safe and healthy day at work and so that difficult or violent incidents are the exception rather than the norm.
In terms of the strategy I was talking about, interactive consultation sessions with 126 nurses and midwives from across the Canberra Health Services, the University of Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital Bruce have occurred to inform the implementation of the strategy. Dhulwa and the extended care unit are the first units in Canberra Health Services to commence work on the introduction of safe wards, an element of the nurse safe strategy.
I note the ongoing issues flagged by the Community and Public Sector Union in today’s Canberra Times and I acknowledge the concerns raised. I also welcome the cautious optimism from the ANMF about the improvements we have been able to make so far. That is a phrase that has been used a bit in health lately around some of the culture and violence in the workplace issues. I take heart from that but certainly do not rest on my laurels, knowing that we still have a lot to do. We hope to deliver on that optimism with the culture review and nurse safe strategic work. As I say, we remain committed to not resting on the laurels of that early optimism.
Training and developing our nursing workforce is another way we can provide support to our staff. The Greens are keen to continue our engagement with nursing and health workforce stakeholders to explore the parliamentary agreement commitment to implementing incentives to raise nurse qualifications and career development opportunities. Continued professional development along with options for expanding scopes of practice offer avenues to make positive changes in health care.
One area of particular interest to me is the review by one of the health service providers from north-west Victoria who looked at ACT mental health services last year. They noted our low percentage of qualified mental health nurses—that is, staff who have a particular qualification in mental health in addition to being qualified as a
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video