The NSW health minister is concerned reports that paramedics arriving at work drunk will tarnish the service’s reputation, despite Deputy Premier Troy Grant saying he still trusts our “local heroes”. Stressed paramedics are reportedly taking opiates and administering drips to themselves to get through shifts. Health Minister Jillian Skinner said she was happy to consider anything that could help struggling paramedics, and admitted she was worried about the state ambulance service’s reputation.
September 19, 2016
Disability services provider Yooralla is on the hunt for a new chief information officer after the resignation of the organisation’s current IT chief, Michael Estcourt.
September 19, 2016
A man and a woman have been charged with a string of offences after allegedly stealing a handbag from an aged care nurse who devoted her life to helping others as as she lay dying after an horrific accident at North Gosford. Police allege the pair then went on a shopping spree with the victim’s credit cards.
September 19, 2016
Lane Cove Retirement Units Association Ltd is fighting a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) implemented by an ex-staffer (Allan).
September 19, 2016
The New South Wales Nurses and Midwives’ Association and Estia Investments Pty Ltd have a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Fair Work Commissioner McKenna in Hearing Room 12-2 – Level 12 in Sydney.
September 19, 2016
Community Services #1 Incorporated will fight a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) lodged by a disaffected Robertson.
September 19, 2016
An application for approval of the Back in Motion Health Group Campbelltown Enterprise Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) as well as an application for approval of the Back in Motion Health Group Valley View Enterprise Agreement 2016 (s.185 – Application for approval of a single-enterprise agreement) will both be heard by Commissioner Gregory in his Melbourne chambers.
September 19, 2016
Competition for nurses is heating up, with some employers offering six weeks’ holidays as major hospital operators warn that any significant increases in pay and entitlements, or restrictions on supply, will affect them greatly. In nursing, an ageing workforce, maldistribution of staff and little increase in productivity or clinical roles has created a fractious environment where new graduates often take jobs elsewhere while some employers continue to seek nurses overseas. In an effort to maintain its supply, Queensland’s Palaszczuk Labor government is finalising an enterprise bargaining agreement that will deliver nurses a 2.5 per cent pay rise backdated to April and another 2.5 per cent in April next year. The state is also opening up to 1000 additional graduate nurse positions every year to retain more young staff. Public hospital nurses in Queensland are entitled to up to six weeks’ holiday, like their counterparts in Victoria, but nurses in NSW receive only four weeks. Changes in hospital management structures have altered the manner in which nurses, and agency nurses, are paid. Private hospital networks Ramsay and Healthscope have warned that nursing labour is their biggest operating cost and any major changes to remuneration or availability — including access to overseas-trained nurses — will make services more expensive and potentially unviable.
