This isn’t unique to Victoria. This is the reality everywhere.
The situation has been developing for 10 years, and a critical lack of underfunding for front line staff, training for new staff, and adherence to staff/ratio is the culprit. Nurses are overworked, where it’s not uncommon for the normal ward nurses to not be 4:1, but 8:1+. It’s unsafe for the patients, and if they have more than one patient that is anything more than stable, it spins out of control quickly.
Meanwhile, every health authority I’ve seen has layers upon layers of middle management. Managers for managers. Their offices take away space from actual beds, and their salaries outstrip most front line staff.
So the nurses that are there are seeing an increased injury rate, a skyrocketing burnout rate, and we continue to circle the drain. It’s going to take a lot of political will and time to pull out of this.
This isn’t unique to Victoria. This is the reality everywhere.
The situation has been developing for 10 years, and a critical lack of underfunding for front line staff, training for new staff, and adherence to staff/ratio is the culprit. Nurses are overworked, where it’s not uncommon for the normal ward nurses to not be 4:1, but 8:1+. It’s unsafe for the patients, and if they have more than one patient that is anything more than stable, it spins out of control quickly.
Meanwhile, every health authority I’ve seen has layers upon layers of middle management. Managers for managers. Their offices take away space from actual beds, and their salaries outstrip most front line staff.
So the nurses that are there are seeing an increased injury rate, a skyrocketing burnout rate, and we continue to circle the drain. It’s going to take a lot of political will and time to pull out of this.