Patients at 70 hospitals across New South Wales will benefit from guaranteed minimum nurse staffing levels, with recruitment commencing for 950 additional nurses.
This comes as the Minns Labor Government expands its historic Safe Staffing Levels reform to more than 360 general and specialty wards across the state.
The expansion means more nurses on hospital wards, better support for the existing workforce and safer, higher-quality care for patients.
A minimum of one nurse to four patients will apply during morning and afternoon shifts across the participating wards.
This is the next major stage of one of the most significant hospital staffing reforms in generations.
Safe Staffing Levels are already being rolled out at 81 emergency departments across NSW, with 990 nurses already recruited.
The Safe Staffing Levels Taskforce, comprised of key leaders from the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association, NSW Health, and local health districts, has developed a workforce allocation model to support the delivery of additional staff across all NSW communities.
Planning is also underway on the rollout of Safe Staffing Levels at seven dedicated postnatal wards across NSW, providing additional support for women, babies and families using public maternity services.
The reform is part of the Minns Labor Government’s work to rebuild the public health workforce and give nurses and midwives the staffing, pay and conditions they need to remain and prosper in the system.
Since March 2023, the Minns Labor Government has recruited more than 6,700 nurses and midwives to rebuild our health system after a decade in which the former Liberal Government capped wages and refused to introduce nurse-to-patient ratios.
The Minns Labor Government has made significant investments in our nursing workforce to ensure they are empowered to continue delivering exceptional care to patients and their families when they need it most. This includes:
- abolishing the wages cap
- delivering the largest pay increase for nurses in more than two decades and the largest pay rise ever for the lowest paid nurses in NSW
- saving the 1,112 nurses the Liberals planned to sack
- recruitment of more health workers including over 6,700 nurses and midwives, 930 ambulance staff, 1,500 doctors and 1,800 allied health workers over the past three years
- supporting our future health workforce with study subsidies
- helping attract and retain the essential workers NSW needs.
The Coalition refused to introduce nurse to patient ratios; planned to cut 1,112 nurses; and froze health workers’ pay, causing severe health worker shortages in our hospitals.
There is much more to do to relieve pressure across the health system, but the expansion of Safe Staffing Levels is another important step in rebuilding the workforce and improving care for patients.
Quotes attributable to Premier Chris Minns:
“When you or someone you love is in hospital, you want to know there are enough nurses on the ward to give them the care they need.
“That is what this reform delivers, 950 more nurses, more support on the ward and more time for nurses to care for their patients.
“There is much more to do, but we are putting more people into our hospitals and giving our frontline staff the support they need to care for the people of NSW.”
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Ryan Park:
“Safe staffing ratios is one of the biggest staffing reforms in generations and reinforces our commitment to backing our health workforce across NSW.
“Guaranteeing the number of nurses on every shift is crucial to giving our nurses and midwives the support they need to provide world-class care to patients and relieve pressure on our hospitals.
“This work reflects the ongoing partnership with the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association to deliver the safe staffing ratios nurses and midwives have campaigned to achieve for over a decade.
“By backing our staff and ensuring they have the support they need, we’re in turn building a stronger health system for everyone.”
Quotes attributable to Member for Heathcote Maryanne Stuart:
“The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association’s ratios campaign has been delivered under the Minns Labor government, after decades of action taken by the NSWNMA.
“Safe staffing levels will result in more nurses and midwives right across NSW, which will address staff shortages and improve patient care and the overall health system.
“Safe and high-quality public health care is a right of every citizen in NSW, we have more to do, but by supporting our frontline workers, we are delivering.”
Quotes attributable to NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association General Secretary Michael Whaites:
“We’re pleased to see this next stage of the ratio implementation come to fruition, meaning nurse-to-patient ratios will be a reality on medical, surgical and palliative care wards across all 15 Local Health Districts statewide.
“This reform will be rolling out across metropolitan, regional, and rural hospitals within the A, B, and C categories, ensuring that members and patients across the state will benefit from this reform.
“But the hard work doesn’t stop until our full ratio claim has been met, and we look forward to working with the government to progress those discussions.
“This progress belongs to our members, who stood together and campaigned for safer care over many years.”
