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Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolfan three sixty online at Mix one oh

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Speaker 1: four nine dot com. It's just on twenty two minutes

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Speaker 1: after ten o'clock now that number. If you'd like to

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Speaker 1: get in contact with us today, we'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from you. You can send us a text zero four

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Speaker 1: one eight nine five seven three six nine. And quite

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Speaker 1: a few of you have been in contact well about

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Speaker 1: various different things, but a few of you now in

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Speaker 1: relation to the COVID vaccine and whether you're feel uncomfortable

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Speaker 1: about having it or not. Keep those messages coming, I

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Speaker 1: will read them out zero four one eight nine five

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Speaker 1: seven three six nine. But we know that it was

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Speaker 1: reported over the weekend that Royal Darwin Hospital nurses are

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Speaker 1: being stretched to their limits due to understaffing issues and

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Speaker 1: an expanding elective surgery wait list. Now joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line to talk more about this, Australian Nursing and

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Speaker 1: mi Wi Free Federation NT Branch Secretary Kath Hatcher.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Cath, Good morning Katie Kath.

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Speaker 1: What is the situation at the moment for our wonderful

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Speaker 1: nurses at Royal Darwin HOSS. But all.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's four main areas that are really struggling to

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Speaker 2: find skill staff and some staff all together.

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Speaker 1: And so does that mean we've got a shortage of

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Speaker 1: staff or is it just that you know that they've

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Speaker 1: got so much on their plates.

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Speaker 2: Both, Katie, So there was a little over sixty new

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Speaker 2: nurses and midwives started in the role Darwin late last week.

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Speaker 2: They haven't hit the floor, so to speak yet. They're

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Speaker 2: still in an orientation process until the end of this week.

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Speaker 2: But majority of them are new graduates, so they're up

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Speaker 2: and coming, wonderful new nurses and midwives. Yes, so the

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Speaker 2: emergency department, theater maturity ward and some surgical ward are

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Speaker 2: struggling for any type of stuff, but mostly for a

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Speaker 2: mid range to experience nurses and midwives.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because I guess that's a difficult thing.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: Look, I think that it's wonderful to have those new graduates,

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Speaker 1: but you do need people with that experience as well

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Speaker 1: to sort of to guide them, don't you.

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Speaker 2: You definitely do. And I'm not sure what's happening to

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Speaker 2: allow mid range to upper skilled nurses and midwives because

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Speaker 2: we are doing over not doing, but employing in the

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Speaker 2: Department of Health over one hundred new graduate of nurses

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Speaker 2: and midwives each year. So whether the I personally think

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Speaker 2: we actually I should say professionally think that the the

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Speaker 2: patient staff ratios is too high and we are exhausting

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Speaker 2: and fatiguing our nurses and midwives. So they are going

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Speaker 2: to other areas nursing on midwid free or moving into

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Speaker 2: state where ratios in the state to nurses to patient

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Speaker 2: ratios are more fixed to standard and they know that

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Speaker 2: they might only have four patients in a morning shift

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Speaker 2: and a late shift, whereas they can have up to

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Speaker 2: six or seven of a morning shift or a late

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Speaker 2: shift in the world.

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Speaker 1: Are in hospital, Wow, six or seven patients that you're

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Speaker 1: caring for? Are we burning them out?

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Speaker 2: Yes? Definitely yes. And at the moment, because there is

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Speaker 2: a shortage, they're doing overtime, they're doing double shifts. They

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Speaker 2: could do a late shift followed by a night shift

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Speaker 2: and that's an eighteen hour shifts and exhausted, they're fatigued.

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Speaker 1: Goodness may and I you know, I think the very

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Speaker 1: nature of our wonderful nurses as well is you know

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Speaker 1: that they want to care for people. Sometimes it'll be

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Speaker 1: hard for them to say no to that extra shift.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, they do feel pressured that if they say no.

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Speaker 2: They feel guilty because they're letting their colleagues down, but

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Speaker 2: they also feel sometimes pressured by the managers that they

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Speaker 2: can't say no. But we do have to take into

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Speaker 2: account Katie, that you know some of the nurses have

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Speaker 2: gone across to working in the COVID areas, so that

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Speaker 2: has impacted and also COVID in general around Australia. We're

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Speaker 2: not getting that movement from interstate and overseas coming to

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Speaker 2: the territory to work.

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Speaker 1: Cat. When you talk about the impact then that this

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Speaker 1: has on some of the different wards at the hospital,

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Speaker 1: how is it being felt.

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Speaker 2: Well, they're just exhausted, they don't have time to do

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Speaker 2: anything for themselves personally or privately. They're just does it

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Speaker 2: mean hope? Sorry?

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Speaker 1: Does it mean as well that you know in some

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Speaker 1: of our different wards that you know that that hours

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Speaker 1: need to be extended aside from you know, those that

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Speaker 1: are pulling those double shifts, but even just a regular shift,

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Speaker 1: are they having to extend those and do various different

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Speaker 1: things to juggle.

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Speaker 2: Well, as you saw in the paper on Someday that

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Speaker 2: the theater were asked to extend their hours from eight

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Speaker 2: till nine and that seventy five percent of them had

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Speaker 2: rejected that office. So that was just one way that

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Speaker 2: the managers were trying to try to make sure that

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Speaker 2: some of the theaters were opening again for elective surgery.

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Speaker 2: I don't think that's going to be the answer, and

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Speaker 2: of course that the managers can suggest this, but it's

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Speaker 2: definitely up to the agreement between the Nursing and Military

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Speaker 2: Union and the staff members that are negotiating with the managers.

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Speaker 2: That's that they can't force that on them, so they

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Speaker 2: have to be in negotiations of agreeing of both parties.

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Speaker 1: KAS. What does all of this mean to Territorians who

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Speaker 1: go to Royal Darwin Hospital for treatment?

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Speaker 2: They still will get excellent care. The nurses are very

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Speaker 2: passionate and they will give their utmost best to make

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Speaker 2: sure that the patients are safe and they're getting their care.

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Speaker 2: But they are doing it doing extended ours. They're doing

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Speaker 2: it perhaps on their days off, coming in and doing

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Speaker 2: extra hours. But you won't miss out on the best

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Speaker 2: care that you should be getting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we know that our nurses are incredible professionals

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Speaker 1: and that they always do their utmost to make sure

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Speaker 1: that they look after our territorians in need. Kats what

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Speaker 1: needs to happen in this space now to try and

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Speaker 1: assist our nurses.

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Speaker 2: We know that we need to grow more of our

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Speaker 2: own within the territory. But for those new graduates that

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Speaker 2: I've just started this last week, you know, for them

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Speaker 2: to be having the great skill to work in the

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Speaker 2: experienced and specific skilled areas like emergency departments, theater etc.

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Speaker 2: That it's going to take another two or three years

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Speaker 2: for them to get up to that standard. But in

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Speaker 2: the meantime we need to encourage and get some other

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Speaker 2: experience nurses and midwives to those areas to help those

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Speaker 2: that are struggling with the overtime and fatigue. And the

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Speaker 2: whole of the Department of Health needs to realize that

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Speaker 2: they need to look out. Otherwise more nurses and midwives

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Speaker 2: might leave the territory and we might be worse off

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Speaker 2: in another twelve months.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which we really do not want to happen.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Cath Hatcher, Australian Nursing and Midwiffree Federation NT Branch Secretary.

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Speaker 1: I always appreciate your time. Thanks so much for chatting

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Speaker 1: with us today.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you