MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Wednesday 18 December, 12.30pm
Nurses and midwives will be outside St Vincent’s Private Hospital entrance, 59 Victoria Pde, Fitzroy
ANMF (Vic Branch) Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence will be available to speak to media
St Vincent’s Private Hospitals theatre and recovery nurses will hold a four-hour stop work at the start of the afternoon session across 29 operating theatres on Wednesday 18 December as part of a day of action to secure safe staffing levels. Emergency, emergency caesarian, paediatric, neurology, oncology and palliative surgeries are excluded.
As of Tuesday 17 December, St Vincent’s Private Hospitals hundreds of ANMF members have been taking protected industrial action for 30 days.
Daily four-hour rolling stop work protected industrial action on each shift began on Friday 13 December with no more than one third of ANMF members, nurses and midwives, in larger wards stopping work.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) has been attempting to negotiate wages and conditions for members at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals in Fitzroy, East Melbourne, Werribee and Kew since June 2024.
The main issue in dispute is safe staffing levels for all wards.
St Vincent’s Private Health Australia is the county’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care provider. According to its 2024 annual report St Vincent’s Private Health Australia revenue and other income was more than $3.3 billion. Its four Melbourne hospitals cared for more than 64,000 in-patients over the past year.
ANMF (Vic Branch) Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence said: ‘St Vincent’s Private must stop relying on understaffing to prop up its financials at the cost of burning through its exhausted nursing and midwifery workforce.
‘Patients paying expensive health insurance need to know they have fewer nurses and midwives taking care of them at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals than they would in a public hospital. In some cases, like maternity postnatal at night, there can be up to 40% fewer staff.
‘We apologise for delaying patients’ surgery, and we reassure all patients that their health, safety and welfare will not be at risk while our members campaign for better staffing and improved patient safety.'
ANMF and St Vincent’s Private Hospitals management are scheduled to meet on Thursday, 19 December for the first time since 29 November, despite repeated requests by the ANMF.
Key Facts:
- ANMF (Vic Branch) members have been taking protected industrial action at four Melbourne St Vincent's Private Hospitals since Wednesday 18 November.
- St Vincent's Private Hospitals in Fitzroy, East Melbourne, Kew and Werribee are affected.
- The key issue is nursing and midwifery staffing levels. Additional nurses and midwives are needed to ensure safe patient care and reduce workforce burnout.
- St Vincent's Private Hospitals has fewer nurses and midwives on each shift than public hospitals.
- Negotiations between the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) and St Vincent's Private Hospitals for a new enterprise agreement began in June 2024.
About us:
The ANMF (Vic Branch) has more than 105,000 members – nurses, midwives and aged care personal care workers – across the Victorian health, mental health and aged care sectors.
Contact details:
Media contact: Robyn Asbury 0417 523 252│ rasbury@anmfvic.asn.au