UPDATE: Bendigo Health has assured that protected industrial action by some mental health nurses on Friday will have little to no impact on patient care.
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“Bendigo Health is supportive of the EBA negotiation process and HACSU members are entitled to participate in protected industrial action,” a spokesperson said.
“We will manage the affected areas to ensure patient and service disruption, if any, is minimised.”
EARLIER: Bendigo mental health workers will rally on Friday for improved service delivery, safe staffing levels, manageable workloads and wage rises.
Members of the Health and Community Services Union will take protected industrial action from 1pm until 3pm near Bendigo hospital about a new enterprise agreement.
The union said health services had been stonewalling negotiations, which affect public sector mental health nurses.
HACSU assistant state secretary Paul Healey said additional staffing and safety were top priorities, after a string of violent incidents at Bendigo Health in recent months.
He said mental health workers had to endure daily staffing issues and unsustainable stress in trying to meet demand.
Challenges listed by the union in a statement included growing patient acuity, “major” staffing shortages, and patients affected by methamphetamines, including the drug ice.
“Whilst additional psychiatric beds have been announced in the new Bendigo Hospital, there is no plan to address the ongoing staffing shortages,” the union wrote.
“This is happening at a time when community members such as farmers, desperately need to have ample access to mental health services.”
Mr Healey called on the Victorian government to invest, or pay a heavier price down the track with people becoming marginalised, socially dislocated, and suffering.
“We need a system that meets the demand of regional Victoria - we need to attract, retain and value the work of mental health workers in order to meet this demand,” he said.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian Branch assistant secretary Pip Carew said protected industrial action was underway statewide, but none of the federation’s Bendigo members will be involved.
“They were not able to take action under the protected action ballot,” Ms Carew said.
She said negotiations for mental health workers were “quite protracted” and called for the process to be expedited.
The previous agreement expired on March 31.
Parties to the negotiations include the Victorian government, the Victorian Hospitals’ Industrial Association, and the Health and Community Services Union.