Nurse-to-patient ratios will be increased in general medical and surgical wards, emergency departments and intensive care units.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, ANMF, Victorian branch hailed the announcement as ‘the most significant uplift in nurse-midwife-to- patient ratios in over 25 years’.
It welcomed the new legislation, which will mean hospitals are classified using transparent public data from the Victorian Agency for Health Information, allowing staff 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 complexity in regional services regarding access and resourcing.
“Public hospital classifications are central to Victoria’s world-leading nurse-midwife- to-patient ratios,” ANMF Vic branch secretary Maddy Harradence said.
“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.”
Ms Harradence said the Hospital Reclassification Review Bill, to be introduced in July, was based on a fair and transparent review of agreed hospital data.
She said the Bill would enact a long-awaited review of hospital levels, resulting in improved public hospital staffing.
Ms Harradence said the increased nurse-to-patient ratio was a long-awaited election commitment to ANMF members and the result of years of advocacy from ANMF members to ensure ratios remained fit-for-purpose and the Victorian community continued to receive high-quality and safe patient care, regardless of where they lived.
Public hospitals were first classified into tiered levels more than 25 years ago, and later 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 a hospital.
The Wimmera Base Hospital will move from a level-three hospital to a level-two hospital, while Ararat, currently level four, will move to a level three.
A level-two hospital is required to staff a general medical or surgical ward with one nurse to four patients on the AM shift; and a one-to-five ratio on the PM shift. A level-three hospital has a legislated ratio of one to six on the PM shift.
A level-one 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.
The number of patients each nurse or midwife is allocated is determined by patient acuity.
The ANMF secured a commitment from the government that no hospital will go down a level as a result of this inaugural review.
Premier Jacinta Allan said stronger staffing ratios meant better, safer care for Victorians when and where they needed it most, and less pressure on nurses, preventing burnout.
“Nurses know Labor always has their backs,” she said.
“When you’re sick, nothing compares to the gold standard care of a nurse in a Victorian public hospital.”
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