Dear Editor,
Wasn't one of Mr Lennon's election promises that his government would commit to the safe nurse per patient model? For the State Government to offer 3.25 conditional on the removal of the safe staffing benchmarks in the nurses' current EBA is nothing short of disgraceful.
As ANF Branch Secretary Neroli Ellis says, the nurses' industrial action is more about keeping safe nurse to patient ratios in the EBA than money. Shorter patient stays meant patients recovered at home, rather than languishing in hospital, but they require a higher level of nursing care.
Our nurses, like our doctors and other hospital staff, work tirelessly to ensure that all patients in our hospitals receive the best possible care, but there comes a time when nurses realise to continue with the current conditions, when some are working 17 hours straight, often in acute care areas, is simply not safe.
Every day the nurses are being made out to be the bad guys in all this with "nurses vote to close one in five beds" and "nurses vote for more bans", but let's put the blame where it fairly rests - the State Government - not the nurses.
Health Minister Lara Giddings maintains the pay offer is fair - I also recall hearing her saying "not one cent from the sale of the Mersey Hospital would go south".
Please Mr. Lennon, Ms. Giddings and Mr. Aird, have the courage to admit when you have made a mistake, think of the health of the people of Tasmania and honour your commitment. If you actually looked at the elective surgery cases being turned away and other patients being refused beds, as real people and took the time to meet them and hear their stories, I am sure even the hardest heart would melt and that you would provide our hardworking nurses with the pay and conditions they so justly deserve.
Yours sincerely,
Rosemary Armitage
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