Rising cases are putting strain on regional facilities where nurses are working more than 18 days of long hours straight
are “chronically understaffed” and the situation could be exacerbated as Covid-19 cases climb in regional local health districts before the holiday period.
Brett Holmes, the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association general secretary, said nurses, particularly nurse managers, were doing excessive additional hours, working unbroken periods of more than 18 days straight, often more than 16 hours a day.“These services can’t continue to operate without minimum nursing staff levels and we can’t fill even those,” Holmes said. “These facilities are chronically understaffed.
Holmes said any acutely ill Covid patients would require transfer to a larger hospital in a regional centre or Sydney but, because nurses had to wait with the patient for the transport to arrive in case of the need for resuscitation, they would not be able to look after the aged care residents they were also responsible for in multipurpose services.
“We are expecting to see a significant increase in the numbers of cases across NSW and across our district, but I have to stress Covid-19 in the context of a community that is 96% double vaccinated is a very, very, very different scenario to what it was back in July before vaccination got taken up by the community.”
“We’ve got an overstretched workforce that was already short on the ground pre-pandemic that is now being absorbed through the testing and vaccination clinics, and now that we’re getting cases in these communities, the workforce shortages are being felt and being felt hard in these hospitals,” Rutherford said.
Wark said it was probably too early to see the full impact, but he expected the next few days to be “telling”, as hospital admissions typically increase seven to 10 days after infection, with theHe said the potential increase in presentations would come at “a tricky time of the year as it is a time when the system steps down rather than steps up”.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NSW reports record 3057 new COVID-19 casesYOUR SAY: Should a mask mandate be reintroduced for indoor settings in NSW? Yesterday, Premier Dominic Perrottet insisted that his government is treating residents 'like adults' and leaving the decision to wear masks in their hands. DETAILS: 9News
Read more »
No changes to NSW restrictions despite massive surge in COVID-19 casesDominic Perrottet said the health and wellbeing of NSW residents is the state's primary concern but no additional restrictions have been announced. 9News
Read more »
No changes to NSW restrictions despite massive surge in COVID-19 casesDominic Perrottet said the health and wellbeing of NSW residents is the state's primary concern but no additional restrictions have been announced. 9News
Read more »
No changes to NSW restrictions despite massive surge in COVID-19 casesTourism testing is being blamed for overwhelming testing clinics in Sydney, prompting calls for other states to alter their travel testing rules. Gabrielle_Boyle 9News DETAILS:
Read more »
NSW COVID cases SKYROCKET again as national cabinet prepares for emergency meetingCOVID cases in New South Wales have soared to a new record again - after modelling predicted Australia could see hundreds of thousands of cases a day.
Read more »