Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present a petition on behalf of certain citizens of and visitors to Tamborine Mountain, Queensland, and surrounding areas in relation to improving registered nurses pay and better per-bed funding. The principal petitioner is Ms Pamela Green from Eagle Heights. This has been to the Standing Committee on Petitions and has been approved.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of and visitors to Tamborine Mountain, Queensland, and surrounding areas Draws the attention of the House to:

Our fear of ending our days in a nursing home sometimes lying or sitting in faeces and urine because nurses are too busy to answer our call-buttons quickly, particularly in the case of Agency nurses, struggling in an unfamiliar environment.

We therefore ask the House to:

(1) ensure that all registered nurses in nursing homes are paid the same as those in hospitals, thus lessening the difficulty in finding permanent staff and the need to use Agency nurses.

(2) Provide greater per bed funding to agencies conducting nursing home services, so that there are sufficient staff to ensure that even when the inevitable emergencies arise, call buttons can still be answered in an acceptable time frame.

Bear in mind that, while you know of these issues from the Nurses' Union, and from your own Health Workforce, this petition is from the point of view of potential and actual nursing home patients, who will be forming an ever-increasing proportion of the voting public as you free up hospital beds by providing alternative facilities such as more respite-care beds in nursing homes.

from 1,141 citizens

Petition received.