Workplace churn is taking a heavy toll on the Northern Territory’s remote health clinics, with about half of staff leaving after just four months on the job. Two-thirds of health staff leave remote work altogether after a single year. Monash University researcher Deborah Russell, who led the study conducted by Monash, Flinders, Macquarie, Adelaide and Sydney universities, said a lack of continuity of care had “serious implications for both patient health and staff safety” in remote clinics. “It shows extreme fragility of the remote workforce, confirming that there is a heavy reliance on agency nurses to provide primary health care in NT remote communities,” Dr Russell said. She said constantly having to recruit and train staff was a “serious drain on resources”. The study looked at staff turnover in 53 remote clinics in the Northern Territory between 2013 and 2015. Study chief investigator John Wakerman Flinders University said bolstering the workforce of Aboriginal health practitioners could go some way to solving the problem. NT Health chief nurse Heather Keighley said the department was working on stabilising the remote workforce by moving to longer contracts, reducing the reliance on agency nurses and offering more educational and leadership opportunities for staff. Nurses’ accommodation in communities will be fitted with internet capability to allow staff to stay in touch with their friends and family. Ms Keighley said ideally, turnover would be about 10 per cent each year. She said a stable workforce was more effective. Community members were better off under a stable workforce because they felt more comfortable and willing to attend health clinics, Ms Keighley said.
September 18, 2017
A s.225 (Enterprise agreement) application by CM52 Pty Ltd, as Trustee for Corbett Family Trust T/A Corbett Neurology Services to terminate its Snore Australia and CM52 Pty Ltd Administration Staff Enterprise Agreement 2009 has been accepted by Vice President Catanzariti in Sydney on 15 September 2017.
September 18, 2017
A West Australian coroner has recommended restricting the prescription and use of fentanyl patches after a 54-year-old woman overdosed in hospital from the pain treatment. Marjorie Joy Jarick was given various opioids to treat chronic post-operative pain at Rockingham Kwinana District Hospital in July 2013, but nursing staff didn’t realise she’d been given too much until it was too late. Her doctor over-estimated her level of opioid tolerance, based on calculations of what she’d been exposed to before surgery, Coroner Sarah Linton said in findings released late on Thursday. Medical experts told Ms Jarick’s inquest earlier this year that fentanyl patches were overused for chronic pain treatment in Australia.
September 18, 2017
Nurses are threatening industrial action at four major rural hospitals which would prevent some patients being admitted. The threatened action at Whyalla, Port August, Port Pirie and Mt Gambier Hospitals follows union claims of staff shortages which compromise patient care and force nurses to work beyond contracted hours. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation says unless Country Health SA is prepared to offer an acceptable staffing solution, members at the sites will launch industrial action.
September 15, 2017
Re-Engage Youth Services Incorporated is set to defend a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Deputy President Anderson in his Adelaide (Patterson) chambers.
September 15, 2017
Man who groped woman in retirement village jailed for a year Judge Patrick Treston described Calon Mackie Edwards’ offending as “disturbing reading” when sentencing him in the Palmerston North District Court on Thursday. Edwards, 45, had earlier pleaded guilty to assault, indecent assault, burglary and doing an indecent act with intent to offend.
September 15, 2017
Pauline Allen says she feared for her safety during a harrowing and “hostile” ordeal at an Adelaide emergency department this week. Mrs Allen described the atmosphere inside the overflowing Lyell McEwin Hospital on Monday night as “volatile” and “on the verge of violence”.
September 15, 2017
The man who lured, raped and murdered outback nurse Gayle Woodford has told an Adelaide court he should have received a greater reduction to his sentence because of his early guilty pleas. Ms Woodford’s body was found in a shallow grave near the remote community of Fregon in South Australia’s APY Lands in March last year. The Supreme Court heard she had been lured from her bed, likely responding to a call for help, and was quickly overpowered. Her killer, 35-year-old Dudley Davey, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 32 years.
