Nurses rally in Sydney for fixed ratios

NURSE numbers in hospital emergency departments have to be guaranteed to make sure patients' lives aren't at risk, their union says.

Addressing a rally in Sydney on Thursday, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) general secretary Brett Holmes called on the state government to ensure a fixed ratio of ED staff to patients.

The demand is a key part of an industrial claim being made by the union.

"More work needs to be done," Mr Holmes told around 40 employees outside Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred hospital.

"It's now an opportunity for the O'Farrell Government to build on what has been established in terms of nurse to patient ratios."

The current award that governs pay and conditions for the state's 30,000 public sector nurses expires on June 30.

The union wants a guaranteed minimum of one nurse for every every three patients in emergency departments in any future award.

It's also pushing for annual pay rises of 2.5 per cent for nurses and midwives, and a cap on the contact community nurses can have with patients each shift.

Mr Holmes said the changes were needed to maintain patient care.

He said there had been many cases "where nurses and midwives are asked to stretch further and further" due to more patients presenting at EDs.

"That puts lives at risk," Mr Holmes told the nurses, many of whom were wearing blue hospital scrubs.

Marrickville Labor MP Carmel Tebbutt told the rally it "was time for Barry O'Farrell to listen to the nurses association".

"I hold grave fears for even maintaining what we've got," she said.

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