Today marks the most significant uplift in nurse/midwife to patient ratios in over 25 years in this state. The Victorian Government has publicly announced it will introduce legislation that will improve patient care across 26 Victorian hospitals including in emergency, ICU and medical and surgical wards. Premier Jacinta Allan today said the Hospital Reclassification Review bill will be introduced in July and is based on a fair and transparent review of agreed hospital data. This Bill will enact this long-awaited review of hospital levels, resulting in improved public hospital staffing, with an additional 253 EFT of nurses and midwives across the state.
This is the delivery of a long-awaited election commitment to ANMF members and the result of years of advocacy from ANMF members to ensure ratios remain fit-for-purpose and the Victorian community continue to receive high quality and safe patient care, regardless of where they live.
Public hospitals were first classified into tiered levels over 25 years ago, and later this was enshrined in ratio legislation within the Safe Patient Care Act 2015. The Act established the minimum number of nurses or midwives per number of patients in specified wards or beds. A hospital's classification directly impacts the ratios required at that hospital. For example, a level 1 hospital must staff a general medical or surgical ward with one nurse for every four patients on the AM and PM shifts as well as a nurse in charge. A level 2 hospital, however, is only required to staff a general medical or surgical ward with one nurse to four patients on the AM shift; and for the PM shift, the ratio is one nurse for every five patients. A level 3 hospital has a legislated ratio of one to six on the PM shift.
The number of patients each nurse or midwife is allocated is determined by patient acuity.
The new legislation will also mean hospitals are classified using transparent public data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information so that reporting can allow ANMF members and the community to assess and understand their hospital's demand, capacity and subsequent classification.
The Branch also sought additional weighting for regional hospitals to address the additional complexity in regional services with regards to access and resourcing. 17 of the 26 hospitals with improved ratios are in regional areas.
Additionally, ANMF has secured a commitment from the Allan Labor Government that no hospital will go down a level as a result of this inaugural review.
"Public hospital classifications are central to Victoria's world-leading nurse/midwife to patient ratios. This legislation ensures we remain at the forefront of nurse and midwife to patient ratios, and will ultimately mean more nurses and midwives to care for Victorians in our public hospitals," said ANMF (Vic Branch) Secretary Maddy Harradence.
Hospitals with improved ratios:
Maryborough
Maroondah Hospital
Mercy Women
Royal Women's Hospital
Werribee Mercy
Angliss
Rosebud
Royal Victorian Eye & Ear Hospital
Victorian Heart Hospital
Sandringham
Ballarat Base Hospital
Bendigo Health
Latrobe Regional Hospital
Shepparton
Bairnsdale
Echuca
Sale
Swan Hill
West Gippsland
Wimmera
Wodonga
Wonthaggi
Ararat
Colac
Wangaratta
Hamilton
About us:
The ANMF (Vic Branch) has over 111,000 members – nurses, midwives and aged care personal care workers – across the Victorian health and aged care sectors.
