Last Wednesday, 13 members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) gathered outside the Bega Hospital in order to campaign for increased nurse-to-patient ratios.

Currently in rural areas across NSW, including Bega, patients receive five nursing care hours per day, while patients in metropolitan areas receive six hours. 

“It’s all about safe patient care,” Bega branch secretary of the NSWNMA Amanda Gillies said.

“We can’t understand why a patient’s location should determine their level of care.

“We just want a commitment from our local member.” 

The NSWNMA wants Member for Bega Andrew Constance to endorse increased nurse-to-patient ratios in parliament, by making a commitment to ensure more nursing staff would be placed on hospital wards each day. 

Bega branch assistant secretary of the NSWNMA Diane Lang said the other aim of the day’s campaigning was to help raise public awareness of the issue. 

“We deliver what we can, but we can’t deliver that extra level of care which patients in metropolitan areas receive,” Ms Lang said. 

“We want patients to get the care they deserve.” 

NSWNMA has been campaigning since 2009 on the issue, and wants results to be seen across all of rural NSW. 

Ms Gillies said the current system they work under is 20 years old and needs to be updated.

She said the average age of a rural nurse is 57, and younger nurses needed to be attracted to the job. 

“[But] how do you attract new nurses when they see they will just be getting flogged?” she said. 

The NSWNMA’s next step is to have a meeting with Mr Constance, and present evidence of why better ratios are needed.  

“Andrew Constance needs to have that commitment to his constituents in his community,” NSWNMA organiser Wayne Baxter said. 

“Nurses have been campaigning for several years now.

“They are firing up the campaign and they will be a force to be reckoned with.”