Culture shift to change aged care
Every Australian needs to roll up their sleeves, embrace their own ageing and rethink their interactions with older people, says Dr Catherine Barrett. The former nurse and passionate aged care advocate was one of five finalists selected for the prestigious 2018 Human Rights Medal announced in December. The Human Rights Awards, established in 1987, are […]
Open letter calls on PM to legislate aged care ratios
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), together with the Australian Medical Association (AMA), The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM), has published an open letter in today’s edition of The Australian newspaper calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to guarantee the nation’s elderly […]
ANMF signs on to ban nuclear weapons
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has joined forces with fellow peak health organisations in calling for the ALP to sign a landmark United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons ahead of the party’s annual national conference. Australian-born activist group The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) drove the development of […]
NSW midwives highlight dangerous maternity shortages
Midwives from NSW rallied today to highlight shortages within their maternity wards. NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members from Royal Prince Alfred, Royal North Shore, Wollongong, Liverpool, Blacktown, Nepean Lismore, John Hunter, Tweed and Tamworth Hospitals have backed an open letter to the NSW Minister for Health, Brad Hazzard, urging the NSW Government to implement […]
Your rights during the aged care Royal Commission
In September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government would establish a Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to examine the crisis facing the sector. It officially began in October when Governor-General Peter Cosgrove released a document titled ‘Letters Patent’, which formally appointed the Royal Commissioners and outlined the Commission’s terms of […]
ANMF joins call for evacuation of children from Nauru
Over 85 children and other families from the Nauru and Manus Island detention camps must be urgently evacuated the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has called. Along with the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, the Australian Medical Association, Medecins Sans Frontiers and other health professionals, the ANMF is demanding the Prime Minister to […]
NSW nurses and midwives demand mandated nurse to patient ratios
The NSW Health Minister was grilled on safe staffing by the state’s nurses and midwives at their union’s annual delegates’ conference last week. It came as the NSW Opposition promised nurses and midwives a new ratios system would be delivered if Labor was elected. NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members expressed distress to NSW […]
Australia’s ‘shame’ over offshore detention
In late 2014, paediatric clinical nurse consultant Alanna Maycock spent five days on Nauru providing healthcare to asylum seekers in detention. She encountered dreadful incidents including the rape of a mother, a guard assaulting a father of a child she was caring for, and a six-year-old girl attempting to hang herself with fence ties. Back […]
Aged care workers undervalued and underpaid
Aged care providers can prevent their workforce from taking industrial action by installing pay levels that respect and value the work being carried out and addressing chronic understaffing within the sector so elderly nursing home residents receive proper care, ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler has argued. Speaking at an Aged Care Workforce Forum in Melbourne […]
Selfcare on shift
A ‘Rest, Rehydrate, Refuel’ campaign aimed at nurses has been launched by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in the United Kingdom. The 3Rs initiative highlights the importance of nurses looking after themselves while on shift and how dehydration can affect concentration and cognitive function. The campaign emphasises that breaks are not a luxury but […]