Kempsey nurses take to the streets as part of statewide strike

Thousands of public hospital nurses across NSW joined the statewide strike, saying they are stretched too thin to give patients the care they deserve, especially in a pandemic.

Around 50 people gathered outside Kempsey Base Hospital, before walking around the block chanting: 'What do we want? Ratios. When do we want it? Now'.

As Kempsey is a smaller hospital, the protest occurred from 2-3pm, but the energy wasn't lacking.

President of the NSW Nurses and Midwifery Association (NSWNMA) Port Macquarie Base Hospital branch Mark Brennan attended Kempsey hospital and made a speech at the rally.

"We are not coping on the wards, we are working so much overtime to cover the short staffing across the Kempsey and Mid North Coast hospitals, it is just not good enough," he said.

"We need to send a message to our NSW State Government and Melinda Pavey, she needs to know how bad it is."

"We need to vote with our feet at the next election and let them know how disgusted we are."

The union's primary request is that the government combat under-staffing by implementing nursing and midwifery staffing ratios, similar to Queensland and Victoria. Requests also include; a fair pay rise, above the 2.5 per cent offered by the government, and no changes to COVID-19 workers compensation.

"We have a fully functional mental health unit in Port Macquarie that is only 50% funded, we have patients waiting in the Emergency department for up to 90 hours waiting for a bed," Mr Brennan said.

Lead organiser for the NSWNMA, Katrina Lee said it was very important for nurses in Kempsey to join in on the momentous occasion.

"It is really important that they are able to join in the strike, we know that there was more than 5,000 in parliament, more than 700 in Newcastle so it is just really important that Kempsey has a voice as well," Ms Lee said.

Craig Bradley from the Kempsey Mental Health Ward informed the crowd that they are starting a mental health branch of the union, and already have around 25 members.

"Our ward here is closed at the moment, it's not fair, it's also not fair how they froze our pay and we haven't received that, it's good to see so many people out here today to support and we hope to see change," Mr Bradley said.

The hospitals management were informed so they were able to provide safe patient care whilst the strike occurred.

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