Nurses and midwives are demanding the ACT government address burnout, staff shortages and "appalling" culture issues within the public health sector.
A group of nurses, midwives and health workers rallied outside Canberra Hospital on Friday as ACT hospitals brace for a surge in BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron cases.
This comes after the ACT government knocked back a proposal from the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation for a $3000 bonus for healthcare staff. The proposal matched payments given to workers in NSW and Victoria.
The federation wrote to ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith more than a month ago about the payments.
Ms Stephen-Smith's reply to Mr Daniel, seen by The Canberra Times, said the government would focus on a wage increase as part of enterprise bargaining negotiations.
"The preferred way forward for providing a pay rise to all staff across the public sector would be to do this through an enterprise agreement wage offer. This would mean the ACT's nurses and midwives, who are currently the second highest paid in the country at entry level and third highest at senior levels, would continue to be among the highest paid in Australia," Ms Stephen-Smith wrote.
The union's ACT branch secretary, Matthew Daniel, is also pushing for the ACT government to address what he says is a lack of proper workforce planning leading to chronic skill shortages, an issue which predates the pandemic.
"The burnout, stress and fatigue, we're looking for the government to look at wellbeing initiatives that they can put in place to support the mental health of nurses and midwives," he told The Canberra Times.
He said there was a serious need to overhaul culture in ACT public health, saying it contributed to an unsafe work environment, prevented staff from taking leave, and resulted in low levels of staff retention.
"The government really needs to pick up its game and understand the true impact that this ongoing pandemic has on our members," Mr Daniel said.
"They need to look after those who have been on the frontline of providing healthcare and the last line of defence against COVID.
"We need to make sure that people are going to be able to access some leave to go and decompress."
Mr Daniel said there had been an increase in nurses and midwives transferring out of the ACT due to incentive programs in NSW.
"There's also the cultural push, where people don't feel like they want to continue to work in this current environment," he said.
"We've also seen a number of people who are resigning their membership with us, because they bring their retirement forward."
Some retired health workers in the territory have been asked to return to the workforce to help with demand.
"Some have done that and said: 'There's no way I'm staying, I'm getting out, it's so bad. I'm not even going to stay on a temporary basis'," Mr Daniel said.
Speaking in May, Canberra Health Services director of surgery Lisa Gilmore said: "We are committed to taking the right steps to support our team members as we strive to provide the best working environment we can."
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