These nurses stopped cleaning. Then the hospital docked their pay

Nurses and midwives at seven private hospitals risk having up to a third of their pay docked if they continue to refuse to mop floors, fill in paperwork, deliver meals or empty bins, a dramatic escalation in a long-running pay dispute with embattled hospital giant Healthscope.

Australia’s second-largest private hospital operator told staff at seven of its NSW facilities on Thursday that it would cut the pay of nurses and midwives refusing to perform any non-clinical duties as part of an ongoing campaign for improved pay and conditions.

Since Tuesday, NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association (NSWNMA) members at Campbelltown Private, Northern Beaches, Nepean Private, Newcastle Private, Norwest Private, Sydney Southwest Private and Lady Davidson Private hospitals have declined to perform any tasks “which do not form part of a nurse’s or midwife’s direct clinical duties”.

This includes mopping and dusting floors, pushing or moving beds, carrying patient luggage, emptying bins and linen skips, delivering meals, answering phones, and stripping beds.

The Fair Work Commission has since approved further action, meaning nurses and midwives can, from Friday, refuse to perform administrative data entry and paperwork tasks that could be completed by non-nursing staff.

The tribunal shut down an earlier attempt to impose a 7.5 per cent pay reduction across the board, but Healthscope came back on Thursday with harsher penalties of up to 33.3 per cent for some roles.

Northern Beaches Hospital nurse and union representative Sheridan Brady said that by docking pay Healthscope was admitting that nurses and midwives were routinely expected to perform tasks other than caring for patients.

“We are not cleaners or wardsmen or kitchen hands … we should not be sacrificing precious nursing time with our patients,” Brady said.