2016-07-15 11:35:49 +1000
To: State Government of Victoria
Introduce ratios for Victoria's mental health nurses
This campaign has ended.
Mental health nurses ensure Victorians living with mental illness progress through all stages of recovery. They save lives.
Victoria’s public sector mental health nurses are currently taking protected action to see the introduction of nursing ratios in mental health and close the wages gap with their general nursing colleagues. Nursing ratios in mental health will improve patient care through consistent staffing. Safe staffing levels in nursing have worked so well, they are now law in Victoria — but these laws exclude mental health care facilities. It’s time ratios applied equally across all mental health wards, units and stand-alone inpatient facilities.
It’s now time to lock in an improved level of mental health care by gaining quality care through consistent staffing.
Why is this important?
Victoria has gathered sixteen years of evidence of the success of nurse/patient ratios. This evidence has shown patient waiting times reduced in Victoria’s public hospitals. It has led to marked improvements in recruitment and retention of nurses as a result of safer working environments. Our public hospitals have also shown improved economic outcomes since ratios were introduced in 2001.
Ratios brought about a 151 per cent increase in patients receiving same day treatment. The system works — it’s time to make Victoria’s public mental health care system a world leader by applying ratios to our mental health wards. New South Wales and Queensland have already introduced nursing ratios in mental health in their own public hospitals.
For the full detail on how nursing ratios in mental health would work in Victoria, please check our log of claims: http://bit.ly/mhLOC
Thank you for supporting our mental health nurses.