Increased wages and implemented nurse-to-patient ratios are the demands of around 300 nurses and midwives who were on strike this morning outside of Northern Beaches Hospital.
A sea of blue could be seen as members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) proudly donned their scrubs on the edge of Warringah Rd, holding signs high and cheering as numerous cars honked in support as they drove by.
The industrial action is against private hospital operation Healthscope. The foreign-based organisation operates hospitals all around Australia, with 13 in NSW, including Northern Beaches.
Nurses and midwives are demanding a 15 per cent wage increase to match public hospital pay standards and their Healthscope QLD counterparts who are they say being paid 16 per cent more than NSW standards.
Nurse-to-patient ratios are also a crucial demand of the strike as NSWNMA Northern Beaches Hospital Branch President, Sheridan Brady outlines the inequality between private and public precedent.
“All the public hospitals have safe staffing ratios, and because we’re not a public hospital, we’ve been excluded from that,” Sheridan said. “This is basically for the community to make sure that we can provide you with the best nursing care that we can.
“The first thing we’re striking about is a 15 per cent pay rise in line with all the other public hospitals… we’re at the moment, we’re 2.4 per cent behind the public sector.”
NSWNMA members are further advocating for doubling night shift penalty rates from 15 per cent to 30 per cent and improved leave entitlements.
About a third of the Healthscope nursing and midwifery workforce have participated in industrial action with 95 per cent of NSWNMA members who voted in a ballot choosing ‘yes’ when asked if they should take a stand against the organisation.
However, Healthscope has claimed they have higher hourly rates than the public sector for nurses and midwives, and also say they have the same annual leave and personal leave entitlements as public sector nurses.
“We have historically paid higher hourly rates than the public sector,” a statement from a representative at Healthscope told Manly Observer. “The wage offer we have tabled will see us continue to do so based on the current public sector offer. Our current wages offer will see our nurses and midwives receive an increase of 10 per cent by July 2025 and have their wages increased by 13.55 per cent over the life of the agreement.”
The private hospital organisation did not address the issue of nurse-to-staff ratios when sharing their negotiation offers with the Manly Observer – an integral demand of the strike.
Nurse-to-staff ratios became implemented as a public industry standard after major strikes in 2022 led to the establishment of the Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce in April 2023. From this, the NSW government designated $1 billion in the budget towards allocating nursing and midwifery positions in an attempt to deliver better ratios in public health.
Hospitals in the private sector – including Northern Beaches which caters to private and public – do not have this standard. Because of this, NSWNMA members say they not only feel overworked but fear for patients’ safety as there aren’t enough resourced staff to attend to them.
Kat and Felicity are registered emergency nurses who claim they are constantly having to bite off more than they can chew in high-intensity situations.
“Nurses can be looking after upwards of 20 patients at a time. It’s not safe,” Kat explained.
“You can’t look after that many people. And we want better quality care for our patients. It’s what we’re trained to do, and we can’t. We can’t provide the care that we want to provide with the current conditions that we have.”
“It shouldn’t be divided, and we should be able to come to work and provide safe, compassionate care to our patients without having to worry about that,” Felicity added.
Furthermore, there’s the concern that better pay in public sectors and Healthscope hospitals based in QLD and the daunting task of not physically being able to cater to other patients is making staff jump ship from NSW private hospitals.
“We need a reason to try and recruit nurses and try and get them to stay here at the Northern Beaches, all of our staff, we’re haemorrhaging them to Queensland. We’re haemorrhaging them to the public sector, and we need to be able to keep nurses on the Northern Beaches,” Sheridan said.
Manly Observer has seen a Healthscope email to employees expressing disappointment towards NSWNMA members who voted in favour of the industrial action ballot on Monday, 4 November.
The organisation says members tabled a market-leading offer and rather than engage, decided to “disrupt the care of our patients, our MOs, and the work of the majority of you.”
Healthscope wrote to members outlining a range of safety concerns they have with the proposed action and as a result are deducting the pay of those who participate in the strikes.
“It is important that everyone knows that Healthscope will be making deductions in the pay of those who participate in protected industrial action,” the statement read.
“It is also important that everyone is aware that while protected industrial action is a protected workplace right, it does not excuse any employee from putting any patient in danger. We will, of course, follow usual reporting protocols if this takes place.”
Regardless, scores of nurses and midwives stopped work and almost 300 attended to protestin outside the Northern Beaches hospital.
“Patient safety is basically the cornerstone of what we do. Not having those ratios really compromises that, and it makes the job definitely more stressful and a lot harder,” one young nurse said who had only been working at the hospital for about a year.
“The strike is important for patient safety. Patient Safety should never be compromised in a hospital setting ever. That’s what we are fighting for, safer ratios, safer patient care,” another nurse said while waving a NSWNMA flag.
“32 years I’ve been a nurse. First time ever I’ve striked. Power to the people. United we stand.”
Healthscope has said the strike did not interrupt the hospital’s business as usual and lasted from 7.30 – 9.30 am, but, according to NSWNMA representatives, unless a satisfactory agreement is met this is just the beginning.
