By LAURA WAKELY
SUNSHINE Hospital nurses began stop-work action last week as part of a dispute with the Baillieu Government.
Around 200 nurses got involved in the strike last Tuesday, joining the thousands of nurses at 15 hospitals around the state who are stopping work in the morning and evening.
The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) is protesting over the Government’s plan to replace nurses with health assistants and replace eight-hour shifts with four-hour split shifts.
The Federal Court intervened last Wednesday and ordered nurses to return to work but as Star went to print nurses were continuing their industrial action.
The ANF has promised the protests will not compromise the safety of patients.
But Western Health’s Clinical Services Director for Perioperative & Critical Care Services Associate Professor Trevor Jones said two operating theatres were closed as a result of nurses strike action at Footscray’s Western Hospital last Monday.
“This is absolutely compromising patient safety and while we are making other arrangements to have that surgery done, it will make the outcome of surgery less predictable for those patients,” Assoc Prof Jones said.
“The nurses are taking their frustrations out on patients and it is just not on.
“I sympathise with the nurses but there must surely be easier ways than this to resolve these matters.”
A Sunshine Hospital nurse said staff were in for the “long haul”.
“Everyone’s determined to fight on, you can’t back down,” she said.
