NURSES and midwives from Bega Hospital walked off the job on Wednesday as part of a campaign to make nurse to patient ratios in country areas comparable to those in the city.
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Members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) took part in state-wide industrial action on Wednesday.
The NSWNMA represents over 36,000 public sector nurses across the state and is currently embroiled in a campaign have a mandatory ratio of one nurse to four patients in general wards and one to three in critical care units across all hospitals.
Strike action was staggered, with some nurses walking off the job for 24 hours and some as little as four.
At 10.30am on Wednesday a group of 13 from Bega Hospital hopped on a bus to Merimbula where they joined colleagues from Pambula and Delegate during their four hour strike.
The group, eventually 46-strong, met up at Auswide where they watched a live feed of the main rally at Sydney Olympic Park where thousands of nurses from Sydney and the Illawarra and Hunter regions converged.
Amanda Gillies, secretary of the Bega NSWNMA branch, said it was exciting to see so many colleagues come out in support of the ratio campaign.
“Today was good, but we will continue the fight to ensure that all hospitals have safe nurse to patient ratios,” she said.
“We will continue to pressure MPs and build community awareness of the issue through advocacy.
“There may also be bed closures and service restrictions where needed because we are serious about getting the O’Farrell government to make these ratios mandatory across the state,” she said.
