Patients bearing brunt of NSW health staff shortages
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Published July 28, 2024
The Sunday Telegraph, 28 July 2024
Nearly six in 10 NSW health workers are close to quitting due to unsafe working conditions, chronic understaffing and lack of affordable housing and childcare, a new survey reveals.
When a patient grabbed hospital radiographer Trish Hann by the hair during a scan, she had to scream for help - and hope someone heard her from inside the lead-lined room, with just one exit.
There was no duress alarm or security guard close by, but more importantly she said the chronic understaffing in her department at one of Sydney’s major hospitals meant she had little back-up.
Fortunately a staff member did hear her cry for help, but it’s not the only attack on her - or her colleagues - and she said it’s leaving many feeling increasingly unsafe, and isolated, in the workplace.
Nearly six in 10 NSW health workers are close to quitting due to unsafe working conditions, chronic understaffing, and lack of affordable housing and childcare close to hospitals, a new Health Services Union survey reveals.
In the Workforce Snapshot of 1236 health workers - including pathologists, physiotherapists, psychologists, cleaners and social workers - undertaken earlier this month, nearly nine in 10 workers reported being short staffed.
More than half of surveyed workers said this had contributed to adverse patient outcomes in the past year, while over 60 per cent felt understaffing was putting their or their colleagues’ safety at risk.
Fewer than 40 per cent said they had the equipment, training or support needed to do their jobs effectively.
Ms Hann, an HSU delegate, said she and her colleagues at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital constantly had to take up the slack as rosters fell short.
“Constant staff shortages mean you’re regularly doing double shifts - so you may be working 8am to midnight and then you have to back up for your 8am shift the next day,” she said.
“For those who have to travel maybe an hour or so home and back - due to lack of affordable housing near the hospital - then it can be a major safety risk.
“Staff are burning out a lot faster - instead of the fatigue slowly building up over years, we’re now seeing workers in their 20s who are burnt out and leaving the workforce.”
Due to the shortages, she said it was hard for staff to undertake further training - leading to a lack of highly skilled staff like sonographers. Patients too were bearing the brunt.
“Ninety per cent of all patients at hospitals undergo some form of imaging - so the workload is never going down in our department,” Ms Hann said.
“We’re a massively overused service and we can’t keep up with demand, so people have to wait - for scans and for results.”
HSU NSW Secretary Gerard Hayes the findings were disturbing, but not surprising, and is calling for an independent body to be set up to monitor the health of the workforce - including vacancies and demand.
The union has been in a prolonged pay dispute with the NSW Government, and members are currently considering a wages offer of 9.5 per cent over three years.
“Our healthcare workers are at breaking point and this survey reinforces what we already know - that staff are understaffed and overworked,” Mr Hayes said.
“They’re physically fatigued and they’re mentally drained; they’re struggling to find affordable housing or childcare near their workplace and the money they’re getting is not keeping up with the cost of living.
“If something doesn’t change, we will see a mass exodus of staff - to agencies or other states where the pay and conditions are far better - and we just can’t afford that.”
Mr Hayes said chronic understaffing was putting staff and patient safety at risk, and meant people were waiting longer to get the care they needed.
“In some instances we’ve got people requiring cancer treatment, and we’ve got the equipment - the linear accelerator - but no available staff on the day to run it,” he said.
The survey findings come as the NSW Government’s Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding kicked off this week, with the first block of hearings underway.
Nurses and midwives also held more than 50 rallies across the state this week, demanding a 15 per cent pay lifeline to fix the staffing crisis in the public health system.
A NSW Health spokesperson said its allied health workforce had grown by 23 per cent - or 2500 full-time equivalent workers - in the last five years; and now totalled 13,300 workers.
The spokesperson said this had helped keep overtime as low as possible - in June overtime hours represented just 1.5 per cent of total hours paid for allied health staff.
“Less than 30 per cent of our allied health staff worked any overtime during the 2023/24 financial year, and of those that did, 92.5 per cent worked less than eight hours per week,” the spokesperson said. “We work hard to avoid asking staff to do overtime, and where possible we use casuals and agency staff to fill deficits.”
Attracting and retaining staff remained a challenge for NSW, and across the country, with the NSW Government doubling the support for the Rural Health Incentive Scheme, among other measures. The government was also investing in key health worker accommodation.
“We acknowledge the past few years emerging from the pandemic have been very challenging for all our healthcare workers. Staff experiencing anxiety or feeling stressed are encouraged to seek support as soon as possible.”