Townsville Hospital CEO throws a ‘hospital pass’ at nurses

While Townsville University Hospital CEO, Kieran Keyes, talks about the right to strike by members of the Australian Workers Union and Together Union over pay and conditions, he is not doing anything to fix the problem.

“Mr Keyes is doing nothing to resolve support workers pay claims. What he has done is to pass the extra workload on to nurses. Nurses are now cleaners, catering staff, wards people, security and clinical support workers as well as trying to care for patients lives,” Nurses Professional Association of Queensland President Marg Gilbert said today.

This dispute is now months old and the health bureaucrats have no solutions. And many nurses are afraid of Mr Keyes because as Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath put it recently in the Courier Mail: “It is very concerning that not only are staff not willing to speak up, but staff are scared to speak up …”.

“Tasking skilled nurses with support work means that nurses have less time to spend with patients and this will directly compromise patient safety”, Marg Gilbert added, “Mr Keyes does not understand the adverse consequences of taking nurses away from patient care even though he was a nurse himself”.

It is time Mr Keyes fixed this problem that puts the whole Townsville community at risk. “This is why health executives get paid the big bucks, yet Mr Keyes mismanagement of this issue is why nurses are resigning,” NPAQ President Marg Gilbert stated.

• Patient and staff safety is at risk because there is no contingency active for security staff.
• Nurses have reported that rubbish is building up, and this health and safety problem must be managed better.
• Stock and some medical supplies are running dangerously low.
• Patient flow is being affected due to the slowdown in bed space cleans.
• Patient handlers will not take any direction from registered nurses unless the direction is written down.
• And more problems are to come as work bans increase.

Mr Keyes is the problem, not the solution. He should just get on with it and remove the burden from nurses and the risks to patients.