Nurses sick and tired

By Melissa Meehan
KOOWEERUP Regional Health Service CEO Terrona Ramsay has hit back at claims her staff are overworked and unhappy.
Over the past weeks the Gazette has received numerous phone calls from staff at the hospital claiming they are working in horrendous conditions and are understaffed.
All asked that their names not be published, for fear of losing their jobs.
While appreciative that they were able to keep their jobs after being forced to reapply during a restructure of the hospital, many said they frequently spent the day in tears.
Claims of air-conditioning systems not working and patients screaming out for help because of a broken buzzer system have also been made by a number of staff members.
“It’s horrendous,” one staff member said.
“We are very short-staffed and because of that our patients are not getting the care they deserve.”
Another agreed, saying staff at the hospital had previously prided themselves on giving a high standard of care to their patients, but now did not have the time.
“When I went in the other day I looked after a well-known local man who was dying,” she said, speaking through muffled sobs.
“When I went in there the air-conditioning wasn’t working, he was lying there, in 40 plus degrees, unshaven with a dirty singlet on.
“I was so busy I could only see him a few times to give him a drink and then when I finished, I don’t know why but I looked at his chart, I didn’t have time during the day, and I saw it was his birthday – before the shake-up I would have had time to see that, no-one knew it was his birthday.”
“He deserved better than that.”
But Ms Ramsay said the hospital was not understaffed at all.
“We are actually very well staffed,” she said.
“The Australian Nursing Federation has an agreement and ratios that we must meet, if we weren’t following that they would already be in here.”
She said the hospital had been using agency staff in recent weeks, not because of the redundancies made before Christmas, but because staff were on holidays over the summer period and others were on maternity leave.
“We do have some vacancies in Division 1 nursing too but that’s nothing to do with the retrenchments – we are replacing some other staff,” she said.
“It takes time to place ads and do the interviews but the majority of new staff are starting next week so bringing in the agency staff is just a interim measure.”
She said in addition to the five new staff members starting in the next month, three trainees would also begin their rounds next week.
“They don’t count in our staffing numbers,” she said.
“But it helps with extra hands around the place.”
Ms Ramsay accepted there were problems with buzzer systems and air-conditioning but said measures were in place to rectify the problem.
“We do have issues with the buzzer system,” she said.
“I am well aware of it – it’s a combination of combining the two units and something being wrong with the software system.
“We are actually bringing out the designer of the software to iron out the bugs on Wednesday (today).”
She said she was disappointed that some of her staff had contacted the Gazette and said people had to understand that the restructure had only been in place for four weeks.
“I really thought after our meeting on Friday that all issues had been resolved,” she said.
“It will take some time for people to get used to the changes.”