Latest Nursing News

The Opposition says the South Australian Government has broken a promise to protect front-line health jobs. SA Health confirmed to a parliamentary budget and finance committee on Monday that 200 nursing jobs were to go out of more than 600 full-time jobs cuts. Opposition health spokesman Rob Lucas blamed economic mismanagement by the Government in such areas as overspending on new health computer systems.

The State's Health Minister is confident a nurses dispute at the Dubbo Hospital has been resolved. Jillian Skinner toured the hospital redevelopment yesterday, She's praised the economic management of the Western Local Health District which has reduced an forecast annual overspend by about 26 million dollars in the past year.

Nurses and management at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital are a step closer to resolving their dispute over a shortage in operating theatre staff. The two parties held a roundtable discussion this afternoon.

Damien Malone is the director of nursing and facility manager at the SomerCare aged care facility on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. He was also recently elected to the committee of HISA's aged care special interest group. He spoke to Pulse+IT about the challenges for IT in aged care and how technology needs to make life easier, not more complex, for the sector.

Nurses have voted to suspend planned bed closures at Dubbo Hospital's Emergency Department for two weeks. Following negotiations with the hospital's management the nurses will await a review of rosters and allow for a new strategy to deal with the high number of vacancies to be introduced.

The Opposition says the South Australian Government has broken a promise to protect front-line health jobs. SA Health confirmed to a parliamentary budget and finance committee on Monday that 200 nursing jobs were to go out of more than 600 full-time jobs cuts. Opposition health spokesman Rob Lucas blamed economic mismanagement by the Government in such areas as overspending on new health computer systems.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation’s South Australian Branch has vowed to closely monitor the State Government’s plan to cut the number of nursing and midwifery hours equivalent to 200 positions. It comes after SA Health revealed it would axe about 200 nursing positions as part of 684 health jobs set to go in the next nine months through improving efficiencies and natural attrition, with departmental figures showing about 900 of its 12,500 nurses and midwives exit the workforce each year.

The money has officially run out for McKinlay's bush nurse clinic, but the doors will stay open for now. September 30 was the State Government's funding cut off, but some budget shuffling has allowed the service to continue in the short term. McKinlay mayor Belinda Murphy says it will be business as usual for the time being.

AFTER surviving a 14 hour shift shuffling bedpans and bandages in over-crowded and under-staffed public hospitals it's any wonder our nurses can find the energy to crack a smile… let alone post a picture of themselves doing it on the internet. But over the weekend a handful of young Sydney nurses found themselves at the centre of a "selfie scandal". What's more, they could be facing the sack from NSW Health.

Nurses have withdrawn a planned stop work in an operating theatre at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital after a hearing in the Industrial Relations Commission. The Nurses and Midwives Association has accused Hunter New England Health of failing to fill seven fully-funded nursing positions in the theatres, putting excessive workloads on current staff.