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ssed here s what i said dear senators i am registered nurse in victoria i worked at one of the most acute public hospitals for just under 28 years caring for some of our state s sickest patients plus a small handful airlifted from tasmania in 2000 i made the decision to leave a profession and a field i loved because i couldn t provide the standard of care my patients needed and deserved on most day shifts i was responsible for seven or eight patients and sometimes as many as twelve medications were late dressings weren t done important conversations and patient education had to be cut short because there just wasn t enough time then commissioner blair introduced the world s first nurse to patient ratios mandating the number and skill mix of nurses based on the type of unit and acuity of facility at the alfred where i worked that meant one nurse for four patients it also meant being able to give my patients timely quality care and it kept me at the bedside for another 16 years ratios improve patient outcomes across multiple metrics including falls infections and deaths they also reduce direct and indirect health care costs not only are patient admissions shorter and less complicated staff turnover and absenteeism are reduced despite this victoria s nurses have had to fight to keep ratios in 2001 2004 and 2007 we needed to take industrial action when refusing to perform non nursing duties like cleaning and clerical work weren t enough in 2007 i was docked a fortnight s pay because although i cared for seven patients was responsible for 28 and supervised three colleagues i closed a single bed on each shift like my colleagues on that ward and across the state i did that not for higher pay or better conditions but to keep my patients safe in 2012 closing beds wasn t enough to bring the state government to the negotiating table they didn t just want to remove ratios this time they also tried to introduce a slew of other reforms that would have cut short term costs but disastrously affected both individual patients and the sector changes like the reintroduction of short shifts not seen since the 60s this would mean working for three or four hours going home then returning to work but not necessarily to the same ward or even campus the modelling they provided using the example of a surgical ward left two nurses on for twenty four patients at midday i don t know what experiences you ve had with hospitals but nurses don t have a lot of down time at any point and most wards are busiest between 07 00 and 13 00 but i digress in 2012 for the first time since 1986 victorian nurses walked out we left at a minimum the same number of staff that the government proposed and nurses could be and were recalled to the floor if there was clinical need members were so determined not to lose ratios and other safeguards that allowed us to care for our patients that we continued to walk out after the secretary of our union told us to stop the action less than a week later the state government agreed to genuine good faith negotiations and we kept the ratios that keep us and our patients safe withdrawal of labour should only ever be a last resort and industrial action shouldn t be our first response it should be what we do when lesser measures are unsuccessful in my three decades of nursing lesser measures have always been unsuccessful industrial action is taken because it works while the most common image of unions is of a threatening cfmmeu member the reality is that there are far more unionists like me a late middle aged middle class tertiary educated professional woman there are more nurses midwives and teachers who belong to a union than any other occupational group and under mr morrison s proposed legislation we will have no voice no power no way to do the work we love safely and effectively i am writing to ask you to vote against scott morrison s union busting bill repeated royal commissions into unions have failed to uncover any systemic corruption something that is not true of banks that the government hasn t enforced that royal commission s recommendations demonstrated their agenda is not about integrity accountability and the public interest you were elected to represent ordinary australians you have the power to stand up for working people to be our voice please vote against the so called ensuring integrity bill and allow nurses to do what we do best caring for others thank you for your time please add your voices to mine and those of thousands of other australian workers you can send them an email via this link or call their parliamentary offices jacqui lambie 02 6277 3614 rex patrick 02 6277 3785 pauline hanson 02 6277 3184 malcolm roberts 02 6277 3694 stirling griff 02 6277 3128 thank you without activism we have nothing 19 thursday sep 2019 posted by tara nipe in uncategorized leave a comment like so many posts this started as a facebook response in this about an advertised opportunity by my union for student and newly graduated members to participate in victorian trades hall s summer internship program in the comments one member wrote aren t there enough issues to resolve under the nursing unbrella without turning members into activists the page admin replied that part of resolving nursing and midwifery issues requires taking an active role in the union including job representatives and health and safety representatives being activists the member acknowledged that then added i bet the focus will be on everything but direct nursing conditions climate change refugees the homeless domestic violence sufferers just to name a few all worthy causes indeed but why does a nurses union have so many fingers in so many pies anmf should first and foremost be putting nurses first in my opinion which is of course where i came in dear member all the things you list are within anmf s remit first they re all connected with health and thus with both our patients and our members who are nurses midwives and carers second the federation s commitment is to members the professions and the communities we serve and are part of that includes those most affected by climate change people living in rural and remote areas particularly farmers people fleeing danger to build new lives both refugees and family violence survivors and people whose health needs are made worse and or more complex by poverty which includes but is not limited to homeless folk we have members who care for all these groups members who are or have been from all these groups particularly the last women over fifty are the fastest growing homeless population demographic in australia third as demonstrated by anmf vic s participation in this program we are part of a broader union movement not only do our brethren in other unions support us in our campaigns as we surely all remember from 2011 12 their gains contribute to our conditions starting with victorian stone masons winning an eight hour work day i therefore imagine that just like with the anna stewart memorial project participants will learn about the issues we have in common that includes casualisation sub contracting the erosion of conditions increasing productivity demands i e workload occupational violence and aggression including sexual harassment and representation however the focus of the program is on what the branch does for members finally we wouldn t have achieved or kept any of the conditions we have without the activism of our membership and leadership even when directly affected only some of us speak up and fight how quickly our battles would be won if everyone took action but few of us can do it on our own i will never forget the neonatal emergency transport service nurses who came to the alfred during 2012 s industrial action they weren t affected by it as they re covered by a separate agreement but they came in solidarity in response to a fb request by a nurse from the royal children s hospital after he saw how few nurses felt comfortable taking action at that site that was on saturday the only day i missed and so i can take none of the credit for them starting a statewide day of action to support nurses at the alfred inspired by their call to abandon action at their own hospitals nurses as far from melbourne as mildura organised buses to support their colleagues for alfred day contacted trades hall to seek advice and notified the press on wednesday march 7 2012 then anf vic branch secretary lisa fitzpatrick announced that the government had finally agreed to sit in good faith at the negotiating table which they had refused to do for months she did this from the alfred steps to hundreds of members supporters and media image courtesy of the abc https mobile abc net au news 2012 03 07 nurses agree to suspend industrial action 3873134 pfmredir sm the campaign was a success thanks to months of tireless work by anf staff members and the support of other unions without activists we have nobody advocating for change without a desire for change there s no need for a union without seeing the big picture we don t know what needs to change without organisation we have no direction about how to make change without solidarity we only have the involvement of those directly affected and there s no pressure for change unless there are lots of people campaigning for it it all begins with activism that plus vision organisation and solidarity get us this which is why all unionists need to be activists not only for the issues that directly affect us but for those that affect us indirectly image via the australian nursing and midwifery federation vic branch lies misrepresentation and distortion 22 thursday nov 2018 posted by tara nipe in uncategorized leave a comment yesterday my sister who lives in the bentleigh district and south metro region gave me an interesting pamphlet that was slipped in her letterbox authorised in teeny tiny type at the back by margaret tighe for right to life the three fold leaflet makes a lot of misleading and outright false claims about the voluntary assisted dying legislation it needs debunking and i m here to do just that i ll take the text in the order it should be read opening with four claims here three true but incomplete and one false 1 euthanasia is toxic the compounds used are capable of causing death that s the prescribed intention 2 pentobarbital and secobarbital the generic names for these drugs are barbiturates a drug class used for sedation and anxiety management before the introduction of benzodiazepines which have a far wider therapeutic window which means they re safer in higher doses barbiturates are the drug class of choice for assisted dying because they re painless generally well tolerated i e unlikely to be vomited up cause coma without death available in oral and iv forms and invariably lethal in high doses the nt rights of the terminally ill act 1995 allowed terminally ill adults after medical review by three physicians including a specialist and a psychiatrist to access physician assisted suicide via a device created by euthanasia advocate dr philip nitschke the deliverance machine above released a fatal dose of barbiturates into the patient s bloodstream if they responded yes to a series of questions on the attached laptop 3 once a schedule 4 drug available only by prescription pentobarbital and secobarbital were rescheduled for animal only use in conjunction with the liberal federal government s euthanasia laws act 1997 which blocked the nt legislation from being used again the rescheduling was specifically to prevent the use of these drugs for being used for this purpose they were not banned outright as the populace would be outraged if vets could not quickly and painlessly euthanise animals 4 the classification of medications and poisons is federally mandated and cannot be overruled by a state government any pharmacist doctor or other regulated health professional who documents distributes prescribes or administers medications outside these regulations would have their registration reviewed which is why you can t just ask a vet for a dose to help your aunt vi die peacefully the 2017 victorian legislation does not mention any class of drug let alone the names of any specific medications referring only to a compound which would be individually prescribed by the primary doctor in each case page two is factually correct in all respects 1 although some 80 of victorians support the right of competent dying adults whose suffering cannot be eased to have assistance to die the legislation did not pass with an overwhelming majority 2 while the word kill is emotive it s true that the vad law is a significant change for victoria 3 while ethicists debate the distinction between withholding life extending treatment and withdrawing them there absolutely is a qualitative and real difference between withdrawing an intervention that is prolonging life like a ventilator and introducing an agent with the intent of expediting inevitable imminent death 4 and 5 the problem here is that assisted dying is being artificially connected to suicide for while it is certainly true that vad is the deliberate ending of a person s life at their behest and almost always by their hand it is not suicide how can i say that here s a list of factors that contribute to and reduce suicidality via the black dog institute none of these relates to the situation of someone seeking assisted dying and it s not just black dog lifeline s advice also doesn t apply to this circumstance suicide is a real and important issue as is oft said it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem assisted dying is about reducing the length of time someone whose death is inevitable and imminent experiences unbelievable suffering after other options have been exhausted there are four claims and two quotes on page three while the claims here are true their juxtaposition presents an argument without requiring the author s to do the work of making it valid 1 premier andrews and health minister hennessy correctly state that the vad legislation is the safest of any kind in this area 2 the phrase out of control is undefinable unsourced and relates to the very different legislation of europe 3 while substantively true this implies that our vulnerable people are at risk of being killed without their consent something not possible here 4 the uk vote did not have our legislation to take into account interestingly there is no mention of oregon where similar but less well safeguarded laws to victoria s have been in place for two decades with no claims of anyone s life being ended without consent next we see a whole two members of the british parliament quoted to support ms tighe s position to give some context to those quotes there are currently 791 lords including 92 hereditary peers and 26 anglican bishops there are 650 members of the house of commons to page four some doctors absolutely oppose assisted dying as do some nurses other things some medical...