The nurses union has said even the loss of one nurse or midwife in the ACT government's takeover of Calvary Public Hospital Bruce will have real implications.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel said staffing levels across Canberra's public health system are already very low.
"Staffing levels are so thin that even the loss of one nurse or midwife has real implications for a ward or clinical unit and that will increase the pressure on already existing staff shortage levels which are widespread," he said.
"If we lose a single member of staff it could have real implications for some services."
The ACT government is hoping almost all staff will transfer when it takes control of the hospital on July 3 but has said the transition would still be safe if only 85 per cent of the 1800 workforce made the jump.
Mr Daniel was speaking at an ACT parliamentary inquiry into a recovery plan for nurses and midwives. The inquiry heard nurses and midwives did not feel respected as a profession in the territory.
ANMF professional officer Alison Wong said cultural problems in the ACT had a reputation across the nation.
"Our culture is very well known across Australia," she said.
Mr Daniel said there were hundreds of shortfalls in rosters all the time and workforce planning did not cater for this. The ACT government released a health workforce plan last month, which outlined a range of priorities for health authorities to help attract and retain staff.
But Mr Daniel said he wanted the plan to be clearer around who was responsible for what.
This plan showed the existing data was "inconsistent and inefficient" and Mr Daniel said this was evident "day-to-day" within health wards across the hospitals.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith addressed the inquiry following the ANMF. She said there were health workforce challenges across the country.
"All around the country and all around the world there are challenges in recruitment and retention of nurses and midwives," she said.
"In the ACT clearly the bushfires followed by pandemic ... there is work to do in recovery and there is ongoing work in developing a positive culture in health services.
"We recognise there is more to do and that's why there is considerable work going into this."
Ms Stephen-Smith also said 15 per cent of Calvary's workforce was a very small portion of the entire public health workforce in the territory.
Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer, who was also at the hearing, said the service made decisions on a daily basis around demand and supply of staff. He said staff were often off sick or off with sick children and this made it difficult.
Mr Peffer also said a significant amount of money was spent on hiring staff from Calvary and vice versa. He said this "wasted effort" could be avoided when the Bruce hospital is merged into Canberra Health Services.
"We have spent an extraordinary amount on poaching people," he said.
"It's not growing the health service ... it's just generating activity that is just wasted effort."
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