FACING an already dire workforce shortage, Riverland nurses are being put under more pressure due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it has been claimed.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) SA Branch CEO and secretary, Adjunct Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars said the pandemic was placing “considerable additional strain on the system”.
“The problem, which I’ve discussed directly with the Minister (for Health, Stephen Wade), is that there is no end in sight,” she said.
“We had the increasing activity with people doing swabbing and that’s taken a huge amount of good will from the system. People are exhausted and fatigued, and they now have the immunisation strategy and it is just creating a vicious circle.”
Prof Dabars said this additional stress would also impact the ability to recruit new nurses in the future.
“I had someone tell me they used to love nursing, but they wouldn’t recommend it as a career even to their own family,” she said
“That’s completely wrong that they are feeling that way. It’s a complete system failure to address their legitimate concerns and deal with them in an appropriate way.”