Queanbeyan nurses will continue strike action after joining thousands of colleagues in walking off the job on Wednesday.
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About 5000 members of the NSW Nurses Association took part in state-wide strike action as they waited for the O’Farrell Government to guarantee staff-to-patient ratios, among other issues.
Monaro nurses association spokeswoman Viola Morris said staff at Queanbeyan Hospital were among the 2000 nurses who took part in strike action in regional centres.
“Cooma and Queanbeyan both had staff walk out,” she said.
“We had 25 walk off the job at Queanbeyan.”
The nurses joined 3000 colleagues in Sydney in a unanimous vote for further action as the association waited for a government response. Its members wanted the government to guarantee staff-to-patient ratios and mandate a four-hour cap on patient contact time for each eight-hour shift in community health services.
“The nurses are prepared to keep striking,” Ms Morris said.
“September 17 is the next planned big action, but there will be smaller events before then … Just knowing that the nurses intend to keep up with activities will incite a [government] response soon, we hope.”
