The Victorian Government has announced it will introduce legislation to strengthen the state’s nurse/midwife to patient ratios, improving patient care across 26 hospitals, including in emergency departments, intensive care units, and medical and surgical wards.
Premier Jacinta Allan said the Hospital Reclassification Review Bill, based on a fair and transparent review of agreed hospital data, will be introduced in July.
The Bill will enact this long-awaited review of hospital levels, paving the way for improved public hospital staffing, adding an additional 253 full time equivalent nurses and midwives across the state.
The legislation will reclassify 26 hospitals, including 17 in rural and regional Victoria, to a higher level.
Ms Allan said stronger staffing ratios mean better, safer care for Victorians, and will also reduce pressure on hardworking nurses.
“When you’re sick, nothing compares to the gold standard care of a nurse in a Victorian public hospital,” she said.
The commitment is the result of years of advocacy from the ANMF (Vic Branch) and its members to ensure ratios, which set minimum staffing levels, remain fit-for-purpose and that the Victorian community can continue to receive high quality and safe patient care, regardless of where they live.
Public hospitals were first classified into tiered levels over 25 years ago, and later this was enshrined in ratio legislation within the Safe Patient Care Act 2015. The Act established the minimum number of nurses or midwives per number of patients in specified wards or beds. A hospital’s classification directly impacts the ratios required at that hospital. For example, a level 1 hospital must staff a general medical or surgical ward with one nurse for every four patients on the AM and PM shifts as well as a nurse in charge. A level 2 hospital, however, is only required to
staff a general medical or surgical ward with one nurse to four patients on the AM shift; and for the PM shift, the ratio is one nurse for every five patients. A level 3 hospital has a legislated ratio of one to six on the PM shift.
The number of patients each nurse or midwife is allocated is determined by patient acuity.
Welcoming the boost for nurses, midwives and the patients they care for, the ANMF (Vic Branch) says the new legislation will also mean hospitals are classified using transparent public data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information so that reporting can allow ANMF members and the community to assess and understand
their hospital’s demand, capacity and subsequent classification.
The Branch also sought additional weighting for regional hospitals to address the additional complexity in regional services with regards to access and resourcing.
Additionally, ANMF has secured a commitment from the Allan Labor Government that no hospital will go down a level as a result of this inaugural review.
“Public hospital classifications are central to Victoria’s world-leading nurse/midwife to patient ratios, ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Maddy Harradence said.
“This legislation ensures we remain at the forefront of nurse and midwife to patient ratios and will ultimately mean more nurses and midwives to care for Victorians in our public hospitals.”
