Charlotte Varcoe
THE Mount Gambier and Districts Hospital is suffering from labour pains, with understaffing at a high.
Australian Nurse and Midwife Foundation South Australia (ANMFSA) chief executive Elizabeth Dabars announced the hospital would need about 37 full-time equivalent staff members in order to operate at its full capacity.
Ms Dabars said although the positions were filled by agency workers and casual staff, it should not be a permanent staffing arrangement.
During her visit, Ms Dabars said there were many concerns about staff stress levels and understaffing with the visit as part of a state-wide campaign calling for urgent action or better incentives to attract and retain nurses and midwives in regional areas.
Ms Dabars said she was visiting nurses and midwives from the hospital and heard expressions of concerns about attraction and retainment of staff.
“I have heard from many people saying they are stressed, overwhelmed, fatigued and people are reducing their hours of work,” Mr Dabars said.
“They are also looking to retire early and many of their colleagues have in fact retired early as a direct consequence of the workforce shortages and the lack of recognition for their valuable work in these regional areas.”
She said staff were discussing moving back to the metropolitan areas for further work due to nothing attracting them to stay in the area.
“Our message to the government and the department is absolutely crystal clear, the time for platitudes and words is over and it is time for action now as we need to have allowances and incentives in place,” Ms Dabars said.
“The last thing we want to see is services either languish or diminish as a direct or indirect result of a lack of action in investing in these rural communities.
“We cannot continue to expect the nurses and midwives to work double shifts to work overtime or work short staffed which puts patient care at risk and that is what I have been hearing very loudly and clearly.”
She said despite the recent influx in nurses and midwives to the hospital, it remained significantly understaffed with 7.7 full-time equivalent staff members needed in the emergency department alone.
“This is a major centre for regional South Australia so to think that Mount Gambier is running as such an extraordinary shortfall is nothing short of astonishing and disturbing,” Ms Dabars said.
“It does place the services at risk, it does mean the services are not sustainable and it does mean the community cannot be assured they will receive the appropriate and safe care on every occasion of their visit.”
She said she believed the “time for talk” was over, calling for immediate action.
“We have been talking around the table with the department and with the government for months,” she said.
“We appreciate these discussions but they have gotten to a point where there needs to be an actual concrete offer on the table to attract and retain the nurses and midwives to these rural and regional areas.”
Ms Dabars said she had become aware nurses and midwives at the Mount Gambier and District Hospital were “working excessive hours”, labelling it as unsustainable.
“They need to know there are going to be additional support coming and additional resources to provide them with the workforce to make sure they can perform their job safely,” she said.
Ms Dabars said the future sustainability of the hospital was a concern not only for Mount Gambier/Berrin but also surrounding areas.
“I think everyone should be seriously worried and we would strongly support anyone in the community concerned to talk to local members of parliament and express their concerns,” she said.
“This needs to be fixed.”
She said following the state government’s investment into the Mount Gambier and District Hospital, the equipment was needed yet if the workforce was not there there was no hospital.
“The heart and function of a hospital is the people and what we are hearing from the people is they are overwhelmed, overworked and overstretched,” Ms Dabars said.
“They are not adequately resourced and they need that for support and they need to know they are going to be recognised and rewarded.”
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton said an extra 35 full-time equivalent nursing and midwifery positions for the Limestone Coast were recently recruited above attrition since the state government came into office in 2022.
“While we are continuing to recruit to fill long-standing vacancies in the Limestone Coast, we are using highly-trained agency staff in the interim to ensure the community continues to receive quality healthcare,” Mr Picton said.
“The state government is in discussions with staff and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation to make sure we are rewarding our hard-working nurses and midwives who are based in regional South Australia.”
Limestone Coast Local Health Network chairperson Grant King declined to comment.
