Advisory – NSW, Australia Nurses and Midwives to Strike on July 24

Public nurses and midwives across the state of New South Wales in Australia have decided to take their employment-rant related concerns to a higher level. Patients confined at NSW state hospitals and community health service centres may expect work disruption as the nurses have voted to a state-wide strike action on July 24.

The nurses are protesting against the state government's failure to ensure a guaranteed, safe nurse staffing levels and equal ratios in public hospitals statewide.

"This has to happen because the government is not listening and, in fact, a lot of nurses feel like the government is laughing at us, so the hard line has to be taken," Chriss Hele, Maitland branch president of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, said. More than 300 Maitland nurses and midwives are expected to join in the industrial labour protest action.

To be held from 11.30am to 1pm (AEST) at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on Wednesday next week, the planned strike action and meeting will be broadcast live to union members in 17 regional towns and cities across NSW. These include Albury, Broken Hill, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Goulburn, Grafton, Griffith, Kempsey, Lismore, Merimbula, Nowra, Orange, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, Tamworth, Tweed Heads and Wagga Wagga.

Patients across the entire NSW may expect the labour protest actions to last and even escalate in the next 12 months.

"Next Wednesday's nurses and midwives strike is the start of an ongoing industrial and community campaign over the next 12 months to secure guaranteed safer nurse staffing," Brett Holme, general secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association, said.

"We will be providing all emergency services and there will be no compromise to patient safety but there will be reduced services so patients may not be washed on the day or family meetings may not happen," Ms Hele said.

An unidentified spokesperson from NSW Health quoted by the Herald Sun, however, lambasted the association's planned strike action as well as its security claims.

"The NSW Government has recruited over 4,000 more nurses and midwives (headcount) in NSW hospitals and health services since March 2011 surpassing its commitment of employing an additional 2,475 more nurses and midwives over the first term. More than 47,500 nurses and midwives now work in NSW Health hospitals and health services."