An $8.75 million ACT government wellbeing fund for public health system staff is a "Band-Aid solution", the union representing nurses has said.
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The Australian Nurses and Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary, Matthew Daniel, said workplace culture in the health system needed a more substantial solution.
"I don't know how the government sees that this will address the significant workforce issues apart from possibly providing a slight feel-good factor for those people who are able to get some of this funding," Mr Daniel said.
Mr Daniel said the wellbeing fund transferred the onus onto staff to develop solutions for improving culture away from the government taking the lead on change.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith launched the fund on Tuesday, acknowledging high levels of stress and fatigue among the territory's healthcare workers.
"We are also committed to working through our enterprise agreement process to ensure that our staff continue to be some of the best paid in Australia," Ms Stephen-Smith said.
"And our nurses and midwives on many measures look like they're the second-best paid nursing and midwifery workforce in the country. We want to ensure we maintain that competitive advantage, but also that we promote the advantages of working in Canberra."
Staff involved in the co-design process for initiatives that will be put forward to the wellbeing fund have suggested a wellbeing hub, a site for staff to rest and access support on the hospital campus, among other proposals.
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Meanwhile, Canberra Health Services deputy chief executive Janet Zagari said the service was committed to working through the recommendations from a review into culture at the Canberra Hospital intensive care unit.
"We've actually gone out to our staff with an expression of interest to participate in an ICU cultural working group," Ms Zagari said.
"We'd really encourage our staff to come forward and be part of crafting those solutions in a co-design type model, similar to what we've been discussing with the staff wellbeing initiatives."
The review found staff were fatigued, felt unsupported, undervalued and did not feel they were "sufficiently skilled" to take on the duties allocated to them.
Some staff are understood to have expressed concern the review was not representative, but Ms Zagari on Tuesday said all staff had been invited to participate.
"It's important that a review isn't released unredacted to provide a measure of confidentiality for staff that did come forward and make comment," she said, in response to staff concern the full would not be released.
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
