Victorian Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation, Lisa Fitzpatrick, said the Austin and Bendigo hospitals were running pilot projects involving unregistered “health service assistants” who perform nursing duties such as feeding, showering and filing paperwork. She said although the workers were trainees completing a certificate three in health service assistance at various TAFEs, they were only given about 20 hours’ training in personal care duties such as changing incontinence pads and washing patients. Ms Fitzpatrick said members were therefore concerned about how appropriately trained these workers were to perform sensitive tasks and about the possibility they would start taking on more nursing duties without the right training. Ms Fitzpatrick said she had sought a meeting with Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews to request hospitals only appoint undergraduate nurses in their second or third years of university to such roles. The ANF had also called a meeting of members to discuss the issue in Melbourne next week. If discussions are not successful, the ANF could take action in the federal court or start taking industrial action. Chief executive officer of the Austin Hospital, Dr Brendan Murphy, said he was perplexed by the ANF’s opposition to the plan because the introduction of such workers had been successful in other states.

“Nurses are often frustrated because they do a lot of time doing fairly basic tasks and we’re offering them appropriately trained (staff) . . . to work under the supervision of nurses.” Executive Director of Nursing at Bendigo Health, Peter Faulkner, said the pilot had been successful and was conducted under the supervision of nurses. “This is not a cost-saving measure,” he said.

A spokesman for Mr Andrews said he had met with the ANF to discuss the issue as recently as last week and would continue to meet with them for more discussions. THE AGE