❓ A WA parliamentary question addresses employment practices, bed availability, and staffing ratios in the public health system. The response clarifies contract types, refers to a previous answer on bed availability, and explains the Nursing Hours per Patient Day (NHpPD) model used for staffing.
AnsweredQoN 2209Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) Why does the Health Department offer short term rolling contracts as normal practice opposed to permanent contracts? (2) How many beds are there in the public hospital system that are currently not in use? (3) What was the patient to staff ratio in the public hospital system in 2015 and 2019?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
15 August 2019
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary representing the Minister for Health
Response time
12 days
I am advised:
(1) The WA health system engages employees on a permanent basis whenever possible. Short term rolling contracts are not the normal practice and are utilised in circumstances where an operational need exists and in line with the applicable industrial instrument.
(2) I refer the Member to Legislative Council Question Without Notice 596, question (3) answered on Thursday 13 June 2019.
(3) Patient to staff ratio is not used across a hospital workforce or as part of current workload methodology. In the context of nursing, the WA Health System –Australian Nursing Federation – Registered Nurses, Midwives, Enrolled (Mental Health) and Enrolled (Mothercraft) Nurses Industrial Agreement 2018 (subclause 10.1) and the WA Health System – United Voice – Enrolled Nurses, Assistants in Nursing, Aboriginal and Ethnic Health Workers Industrial Agreement 2018 (subclause12.1), provide for the Nursing Hours per Patient Day (NHpPD) which is used to determine staffing levels.
Using the NHpPD model, a 24 hour period of care is used to determine safe staffing levels. All wards within our hospitals are identified and measured against criteria within the NHpPD categories and benchmarked across the state with like wards or departments. This formula will inform the ward or department of the minimum staffing level required for a 24 hour period.
Health services have escalation processes in place for approval to go above their NHpPD staff levels on a shift by shift basis if clinical need and staffing workload requires this to occur. Additionally, should a clinical area increase in complexity and acuity consistently over time there is a reclassification process which allows the service to reclassify the ward to a higher category and increase staffing resources.
(1) The WA health system engages employees on a permanent basis whenever possible. Short term rolling contracts are not the normal practice and are utilised in circumstances where an operational need exists and in line with the applicable industrial instrument.
(2) I refer the Member to Legislative Council Question Without Notice 596, question (3) answered on Thursday 13 June 2019.
(3) Patient to staff ratio is not used across a hospital workforce or as part of current workload methodology. In the context of nursing, the WA Health System –Australian Nursing Federation – Registered Nurses, Midwives, Enrolled (Mental Health) and Enrolled (Mothercraft) Nurses Industrial Agreement 2018 (subclause 10.1) and the WA Health System – United Voice – Enrolled Nurses, Assistants in Nursing, Aboriginal and Ethnic Health Workers Industrial Agreement 2018 (subclause12.1), provide for the Nursing Hours per Patient Day (NHpPD) which is used to determine staffing levels.
Using the NHpPD model, a 24 hour period of care is used to determine safe staffing levels. All wards within our hospitals are identified and measured against criteria within the NHpPD categories and benchmarked across the state with like wards or departments. This formula will inform the ward or department of the minimum staffing level required for a 24 hour period.
Health services have escalation processes in place for approval to go above their NHpPD staff levels on a shift by shift basis if clinical need and staffing workload requires this to occur. Additionally, should a clinical area increase in complexity and acuity consistently over time there is a reclassification process which allows the service to reclassify the ward to a higher category and increase staffing resources.
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