Cries of “shame” were heard as nurses from the Nepean Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) rallied outside of the hospital this week, fighting for patient safety.
The nurses, members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) Nepean Hospital Branch, gathered on Monday, July 7 to voice their frustrations about the severe understaffing and resourcing in the NICU, with members reporting that the unit frequently exceeds capacity.
The rally at Nepean Hospital follows a similar rally held at Westmead Hospital a fortnight ago where NSWNMA members raised concerns about unsafe neonatal care including incidents of sick babies requiring 1:1 or 1:2 nursing care being double or triple parked.
NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary Michael Whaites addressed the nurses at the rally, saying funding for additional staffing is essential.
“We know that a big piece of the understaffing that we experience not only here at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit but across the Nepean Hospital is because of the inadequate wages that you receive for the work that you do,” Whaites said.
“There is a lot of work ahead for both the Local Health District and the Government of New South Wales. The Local Health District must ensure that the occupancy rates at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit here match the staffing, and if it doesn’t match then they need to bring on additional staffing to ensure that safe patient care is delivered.
“The New South Wales Government has to play its role in ensuring that they lift the wages so that your local hospital can recruit the staff it needs.”
Many of the nurses at the rally came in on their day off, while others had just finished a long shift, with NSWNMA Nepean Hospital Branch Secretary Alicia Rodgers thanking them for their support.
“We are constantly seeing our bed spaces overflowing, where we are above capacity,” she said.
“We’re either surging beyond our intensive care beds or surging beyond both our intensive care beds and our overall bed capacity in our nursery.
“That stretches our staff so far and puts us at risk of not being able to provide the safest and most effective care to the most vulnerable in our health system, our tiny babies.”
Rodgers called on the State Government to match the funding commitments to the NICU that it has made to other hospital departments.
“We’ve had commitments from the State Government for our Emergency Departments, our adult ICUs, our Maternity Units, our general wards, all very slow to roll out but one of the key areas that missed out on that commitment was Neonatal Intensive Care and Special Care Nursery,” she said.
“These babies deserve the same level of safe staffing that their adult counterparts do.”
NSWNMA Nepean Hospital Branch Vice President Kerry Rodgers echoed the sentiment, saying nurses and midwives suffer “moral injury” every shift.
“As we know, safe staffing is absolutely critical to what we do,” she said.
“We want to provide the best quality and safest care that we can.
“Nurses and midwives across the state are suffering moral injury every single shift because they are unable to provide the care that they know their patients require and these tiny babies require the utmost standard of care.”
Nepean Hospital says it constantly monitors demand for services and has appropriate plans in place to ensure clinical staff are supported to deliver care for all patients.
“The Hospital is funded for 38 cots in the Neonatal Unit. Of the 38 cots, 25 are Special Care Nursery cots and 13 are NICU cots. This includes an additional NICU cot for Nepean Hospital that has been funded this financial year,” a Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District spokesperson said.
“When there is increased demand, additional cots and other resources are made available, and staffing is increased to care for these babies.
“Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District continues to grow its nursing workforce, including hiring 178 nurse graduates and increasing the Nepean Emergency Department nursing staff by the equivalent of 13 new fulltime nurses to implement Safe Staffing Levels as the NSW Government rolls out the major staffing reform.”
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.