Remote Area Nurse Safety

The issue

Remote Area Nurses (RAN) are instrumental in delivering and improving access to healthcare in isolated communities across our expansive outback.  The role of the RAN encompasses the whole of life care, from antenate to end of life.  We operate far outside the metro area, which means we are on call after hours and usually expected to attend after hours emergencies as single responders. Since Christmas 2015 there have been two sexual assaults of RAN's and now the murder of our colleague in Fregon, South Australia. We are asking the Federal Health Minister, The Hon. Sussan Ley to abolish single nurse posts in Australia. And to assist in making it mandatory for two responders to attend all after hours call outs in Government, Indigenous Health Corporations and Not For Profit health centres across Australia.
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This petition had 137,247 supporters

The issue

Remote Area Nurses (RAN) are instrumental in delivering and improving access to healthcare in isolated communities across our expansive outback.  The role of the RAN encompasses the whole of life care, from antenate to end of life.  We operate far outside the metro area, which means we are on call after hours and usually expected to attend after hours emergencies as single responders. Since Christmas 2015 there have been two sexual assaults of RAN's and now the murder of our colleague in Fregon, South Australia. We are asking the Federal Health Minister, The Hon. Sussan Ley to abolish single nurse posts in Australia. And to assist in making it mandatory for two responders to attend all after hours call outs in Government, Indigenous Health Corporations and Not For Profit health centres across Australia.
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The Decision Makers

Skye Kakoschke-Moore
Skye Kakoschke-Moore
Senator for South Australia
Responded
“Dear RANs and petition signers, As a South Australian Senator, I wanted to tell you that I share your concern for the safety of our remote area nurses, and am committed to seeing single posts abolished. I am deeply concerned about the dangers many rural nurses face at work. I’ve personally heard a number of shocking cases of sexual and physical abuse inflicted upon remote nurses, issues of insecure housing, bullying and safety breaches within organisation which are putting their lives at risk. Despite more than a year passing since South Australian Remote Area Nurse Gayle Woodford was tragically murdered on a callout in the outback town of Fregon, very little has been done by the Federal Government to improve safety and security. After Gayle’s murder you become one of the 133,000 to sign this Change.org petition calling for Gayle’s Law which would require nurses to attend call outs in pairs and abolish single nurse posts. Senator Nick Xenophon successfully moved a motion in the Senate on 3 May 2016 calling for these measures to be implemented and others such as GPS and satellite tracking in vehicles. I pursued the Federal Government on this motion but they deferred responsibility to the states, territories and employing organisations. In January a damning report by CRANAplus found the safety of RANs is at risk right now and it provided 33 clear recommendations about how to reduce many of these risks. When I questioned the Department of Health about actioning the recommendations during Senate Estimates at the beginning of March, they told me they won’t look at the report until a roundtable sometime in May. I’ve since been told that there won’t even be a roundtable in May. None of these 33 recommendations have been adopted. I won’t sit around and wait for more nurses to get injured before action is taken. I’ve created a link on my website where you can email the Assistant Health Minister David Gillespie today, urging him to improve rural nurse safety immediately - www.senatorskye.com.au/gayles-law The Government has dropped the ball when it comes to urgently responding to this report and the buck passing on this issue must stop. There is no excuse for their inaction, and in fact the longer the government takes to improve safety measures for our rural nurses, the longer these health workers remain exposed to violent attacks or worse. The Federal Government has a role to play in facilitating the enactment of the recommendations, particularly as much of the funding to remote organisations employing the health workforce is provided by the Commonwealth. You can help by joining our Call to Action here: www.senatorskye.com.au/gayles-law. Thank you, Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore”
Senator Fiona Nash
Senator Fiona Nash
Deputy Leader of The Nationals, Minister for Rural Health
Responded
“Earlier today, you received an email from Ms Joanna Norton regarding a petition you have shown support for regarding remote nurse safety. I share Ms Norton’s concerns regarding the safety of all of our remote health workers. Disappointingly, Ms Norton’s email and Facebook update about me and the meeting I facilitated regarding remote health worker safety was extremely misleading. Others who were in the meeting have also confirmed this. I need to correct the record on multiple statements in her email and post. I am not on leave nor am I going on leave, instead of dealing with this issue as was suggested. This is absolute rubbish and it is extremely disappointing to have this sort of suggestion distributed. I have treated the matter of remote health worker safety with the seriousness it deserves from the very outset. I convened the meeting on Wednesday to bring the relevant stakeholders and service providers together to share ideas around safety procedures. The meeting produced many worthy and original ideas and these will be raised with State and Territory Health Ministers. Second, single nurse posts are not created by “government policy”. Rural and remote health services are not run by the Federal Government. However, I am determined to work with the sector to achieve meaningful outcomes. Third, the meeting I convened included representatives from the peak body for the remote and isolated health workforce of Australia CRANAplus, the Australian College of Nursing, Indigenous Allied Health Australia, the National Rural Health Alliance, Indigenous Health groups, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer of Australia. A number of these representatives have been frontline remote area nurses. To suggest workers weren’t represented at the meeting is misleading. As CRANAplus President Janie Smith has now posted in response to Ms Norton’s email and Facebook post regarding me and the meeting on the change.org petition: “This information is absolutely incorrect. CRANAplus presented their case and their five priorities for change. They called for immediate action. Three of the four presenters were previous presidents and highly experienced. Minister Nash was extremely concerned about the issue of safety as were the 25 other rural and remote organisations representatives, who fully supported our position. Minister Nash said she would take our concerns and strategy to the Australian health ministers advisory council, the highest group in our nation. Where you got that she is going on holidays is absolute rubbish. We need to be strategic about this, please don't spend your energy supporting misinformation. Nash is one of the good ones who gets it. Let's work together to bring about change.” My statement following the meeting is available here http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2016-nash011.htm I look forward to continuing to work constructively with the sector on this important issue. Yours sincerely, Fiona Nash, Minister for Rural Health.”
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull
Former Prime Minister of Australia
The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP
The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP
Prime Minister of Australia
The Hon. Sussan Ley MP
The Hon. Sussan Ley MP
Federal Health Minister

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Petition created on 25 March 2016