NPAQ Wins Improvements for Community & Nurses in Gladstone

“When our members raise issues with us, we act” NPAQ President Marg Gilbert said today.

Recently NPAQ went on consultation and fact finding tours across rural and regional Queensland. The last tour included Gladstone, Baralaba, Biloela, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Gin Gin, Monto, Moura, Mundubbera and Townsville Queensland Health and some private facilities.

NPAQ members raised many concerns affecting nurses, staff and Queenslanders, including:

• Bullying and the poor culture in many facilities, a problem that management won’t fix;
• Nepotism in recruitment and promotion, this is now rife across the health system;
• The declining depth of professional skills and experience in key management roles;
• The on-going mismanagement of key resources including nurses;
• Occupational violence like the many recent cases at Townsville University Hospital;
• Nurses frustration at ineffective and disorganized management;
• Reliance on locums and agency staff who come and go too quickly for continuity of care;
• Declining funding and support for rural and regional healthcare;
• Closures of facilities that put lives at risk and force people to leave family to get care;
• Poor decision-making in assessing needs and remoteness in healthcare planning; and,
• New nursing graduates are often not work ready due to systemic failures in the current tertiary education system, which is lacking in broad clinical practice opportunities.

A very poor scorecard for Queensland Health management, it is one they do not want you to know.

“Gladstone Hospital was a concerning example” NPAQ President Marg Gilbert stated. “Hospital management had been closing facilities and services in a growing region to save money.”

Closures in the Gladstone Maternity Unit were particularly concerning, leaving mums and bubs in the region to travel over 1.5 hours to get services the South East corner of the state takes for granted.   Mums and bubs were at risk. NPAQ listened and we acted quickly, “By engaging positively with hospital management we were able to get quick action to address our members’ concerns and community health needs” Marg added.

We thank our members and the management of the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service for working with NPAQ to improve health quality and safety for the region. Though there is a lot more to do, like many regional hospitals, Gladstone relies on agency staff because regional hospitals have trouble attracting and retaining skilled nurses and staff.

The recent Working for Queensland Survey was careful to not let staff say what they truly thought the problems were in Queensland Health. But everybody knows that mismanagement, bullying, nepotism, disorganisation leading to staff frustration and poorly focussed funding are key factors.

“If everything was ok in Queensland Health, we would have safe patients, happy workers and the ‘no vacancy’ sign up, but sadly this is far from the truth” Marg Gilbert added. In Gladstone, ward closures due to low staffing levels create a flow-on effect as patients block the Emergency Department waiting for a bed and this creates more ambulance ramping.

It is time to get the healthcare system back on track. NPAQ has the solution - A Nurse led system which is focussed on effective management, on employee engagement and satisfaction, better pay and conditions and on delivering timely healthcare where it is needed.

NPAQ is listens to our members and will continue to work with hospital management to improve patient safety and employee satisfaction.

NPAQ cares.                                    

Contact: Margaret Gilbert - NPAQ President

E: margaret.gilbert@npaaservices.org.au