West Australian nurses and midwives have voted to demand a 10 per cent annual pay rise from the state government and are threatening industrial action that could lead to bed closures in five weeks.
Those were among seven resolutions voted on by roughly 2,000 Australian Nursing Federation members who gathered at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday.
Many had left work for the meetings, with buses bringing them from all of Perth's public hospitals, as well as Bunbury Regional Hospital.
The meeting was held to outline plans for escalating industrial action as the union bargains for a new pay and conditions deal, after the existing one expired yesterday.
Implementing nurse-to-patient ratios remains a high priority for the union and its members, and is core to their campaign.
The union had also been planning to ask the government for a five per cent pay rise, plus a top-up for inflation and a $3,000 cost of living payment.
But after being raised by a member, the crowd agreed to up its demands to a 10 per cent pay rise, plus an inflation top-up, as well as a $4,500 cost of living payment.
"The Labor government have found six billion dollars in the budget. Why don't they spend it on the backbone of WA?" one nurse told the crowd.
Double and overtime shift bans on the cards
Members also agreed to begin industrial action that will expand with each week negotiations continue, moving through the following stages:
- Ban on double shifts
- Ban on overtime shifts
- Ban on accepting patients over an area's capacity
- Ban on part-time workers picking up shifts over contracted hours
- A fortnight of day-long stoppages at various hospitals
- Closing one in five beds.
If no agreement is reached by that stage, "indefinite strike action" is on the cards.
Pay demand may not be realistic, says union boss
The union's secretary, Janet Reah, said the meeting went "spectacularly well", but its success would depend on how it affected negotiations with the government.
Ms Reah said she was surprised to see members vote to up their pay request, and said it might not be realistic to expect such a high figure.
"But you have to start somewhere, so why not?" she said.
"We'll put those [requests] to the minister, they [the members] all agreed that it was a good place to start."
Among the speakers to address the crowd was Professor Phil Della, who authored an independent review into the staffing levels of nurses in WA's hospitals earlier this year.
He found the current model was "clunky" and "cumbersome" and needed to be changed — recommending the government compare its current system with Victoria's nurse-to-patient ratios and implement whichever has a higher number of nurses and midwives per patient.
Victoria, Queensland, the ACT and South Australia all have nurse-to-patient ratios.
Professor Della told the event nurses and midwives were being treated as a cost that needed to be reduced.
"That means we need to reduce the number of nurses or midwives. We need to replace them with cheaper workers. But that's old thinking," he said.
"What we need is a system that values your work, values what nurses and midwives do.
"Other jurisdictions, other countries are doing something. We need to do it now, or there'll be less of us to care for patients."
COVID was 'final blow'
Ms Reah said nurses and midwives had reached breaking point and were frustrated with the government.
"Over the last five years of this government being in power, there has been a decline in recruitment, reduction in wages in real terms, increase in our workloads, and the final blow to this workforce has been the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.
"Now is the time to tell the government 'stop, no more'.
"No more will we sacrifice our health or wellbeing, or our time with our families."
Ms Reah also said properly staffing hospitals and supporting workers saved money in the long run.
"Nurses and midwives save lives, they prevent complications and extended stays in hospitals and they also prevent patients from failed discharges and having to re-present to hospitals," she said.
"We are determined to extract a decent pay offer from the government to attract and retain nurses and midwives."
No need for industrial action, says Premier
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Premier Mark McGowan said there was no need for nurses to take industrial action because negotiations were ongoing.
He pointed to the government's "generous" pay offer, which for many nurses was a three per cent pay rise each year plus a $3,000 sign-on bonus.
Mr McGowan said negotiations on nurse-to-patient ratios were continuing but said implementing them could have "unexpected and unforeseen consequences," without detailing what those consequences could be.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson was approached for comment after the meeting, but said she had nothing to add to the Premier's comments.
It comes as the release of health service annual reports this week provides further insight into the strain WA's hospitals remain under.
The Child and Adolescent Health Service, which manages Perth Children's Hospital, reported 32 confirmed "SAC 1" incidents in the 2021-2022 financial year, of which two resulted in patients dying.
SAC 1 events occur where health care provision, or lack thereof, either does or could cause serious harm or death.
It marks a doubling in the number of confirmed events since 2018-2019, and an increase of 23 per cent on last year's figures, when five patients died as a result of SAC 1 incidents.
In a statement, CAHS acting chief executive Valerie Jovanovic said of the 32 confirmed incidents, four had been declassified since the report had been published, after it was determined health care was not a contributing factor.
"We actively encourage the identification and reporting of clinical incidents and near misses so that we can learn from and prevent harm to our patients and clients," she said.
"While this may increase reported incidents, this readiness to review each event is critical to ensure that a culture of learning and improvement remains firmly embedded."
Calls for royal commission into health system
The opposition's health spokesperson, Libby Mettam, used those figures to strengthen her push for a royal commission into the state's health system.
"We need a line in the sand. We need a circuit breaker. We cannot afford another three years of chaos that we are seeing under the McGowan government," she said.
"We need a transparent and thorough investigation into the health system."
Ms Mettam was joined by the father of Aishwarya Aswath, who died at Perth Children's Hospital in April 2021, who is leading a petition calling for the inquiry.
"We have the world's best health infrastructure, but it's not performing at its best, so what we need is the support for the hospitals to perform better," Aswath Chavittupara said.
Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson has previously described the opposition's calls for a royal commission as "attention seeking".
