Healthscope Hobart Private offer cash incentives to recruit, yet Nursing and Midwifery Agreement at risk
16 February 2021
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Tasmanian Branch (ANMF) have been representing nursing staff at Healthscope’s Hobart Private Hospital in current nursing negotiations for a new Enterprise Agreement.
During this time, the ANMF has been made aware that Hobart Private Hospital have been offering cash rewards of $500 to current staff who successfully find nurses and midwives that sign on to work at the hospital. It’s reported that the new staff member also receives a cash reward after three months of employment.
Yet, disappointingly, Healthscope has not put forward an offer to nurses that addresses their concerns regarding workloads – which have been an ongoing issue for ANMF members and directly affects recruitment and retention of the current workforce.
ANMF Tasmanian Branch Secretary Emily Shepherd said, “it’s incredibly disappointing that Healthscope have not come forward with an offer that values and supports nurses, particularly at a time when the profession has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response. Nurses and midwives have been working under heightened stress and uncertainty to keep the community safe during the pandemic.”
Nursing and midwifery members employed at Healthscope are considering taking industrial action against their employer as a result of the poor offer presented. This action is in desperate effort to implore management to address ongoing concerns regarding workloads and staffing concerns.
“Nurses and midwives are in high demand in the clinical setting, particularly now during the pandemic response in which they are directly undertaking COVID-19 testing and will soon be administering the vaccine.
“It’s in Healthscope’s best interest to value their nursing and midwifery staff at a time such as this by putting forward an offer that supports their staff. This is imperative if they want to retain and recruit their current nursing and midwifery workforce.”
The ANMF will be balloting nursing and midwifery members at Hobart Private Hospital shortly to determine if and how industrial action will be taken.
“Supporting nurses and midwives in their work is essential to ensuring patient care is of a high level. This is something that the ANMF will continue to advocate for and we will actively be working towards Healthscope achieving this also.”
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Media contact:
Emily Shepherd
Mobile: 0400 884 021
Email: emily.shepherd@anmftas.org.au