Working conditions at Mt Gambier Hospital have become “untenable and unworkable” and have forced understaffed and stressed nurses to take court action. Overworked doctors at the state’s largest regional hospital are also taking action and will meet with the State Government in the Industrial Relations Commission today to ensure adequate staffing levels. Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation secretary Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars said the union would lodge complaints against Country Health SA in the IRC, also today — a move which could result in fines. She said the hospital was failing to fill 14 nursing shifts, or an eight-hour shift every day, over a fortnight period, which was ultimately putting patients’ lives at risk, adding: “Staff have been expressing over a significant period of time about pressures and they are deeply concerned and it’s only a matter of time that patient care is negatively affected.
