ANNUAL report - Queensland Nurses Union

POLITICALparticipated in the full day summit to exploreand develop key areas which would inform thedevelopment of an overarching plan to be called theQueensland Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Strategy2020.We are working with the Office of the Chief NursingOfficer to progress the objectives from the Summitthrough the Nurses’ and Midwives ImplementationGroup (NaMIG).Because We CareIn March 2009 we launched our national Because WeCare campaign which aims to address serious issuesfacing nurses and residents in aged care.Coordinated by all branches of the Australian NursingFederation including the QNU, the campaign calls onthe federal government to act and properly fund agedcare by introducing:1. The right balance of skills and nursing hours so thatnursing and care staff can provide quality care forevery resident2. Fair pay for aged care nurses and care staff who arepaid up to $300 per week less than nurses in othersectors3. Recognition of the professional skills of Assistants inNursing and care staff through a national licensingsystem4. A guarantee that taxpayer funding is used fornursing and personal care for each resident.We should be proud of our campaign achievementsto date with this campaign, in particular, the $132million aged care workforce package announced byTreasurer Wayne Swan during the May federal budget,which includes a decisive commitment to address a keycampaign objective of boosting skills in the sector.Key funding commitments include:»»$3.5 million to explore a national regulation systemfor personal care workers, ensuring high standards ofcare and recognising professionalism»»$19 million to trial new models that expand the roleof nurse practitioners in aged care, improving careerpathways and nursing care»»$21 million to establish 900 new nursing scholarships:600 for ENs and 300 for RNs»»$60 million to enable existing aged care nurses andpersonal care workers to upgrade their qualificationsthrough further training. This includes payments of$1,000 for personal care workers to attain a nursingcertificate III or IV, $2,500 for those with a nursingcertificate III to upgrade to EN, and $5,000 for ENsto upgrade to RN. These payments are conditional oncourses being completed and employees staying in theindustry.These commitments represent some significant gainsfor aged care, which are a direct result of the actions ofQNU members across all sectors.Over the past year we have planned and implementedmany campaign activities which members and thegeneral public have enthusiastically participated in.In October 2009 we held a state-wide day of action inworkplaces, marginal electorates and communities.QNU members ran stalls and organised activitiesto spread the word about our campaign and garnercommunity support. More than 10,000 signedpostcards were returned to the QNU from memberswho organised the nearly 40 events on or aroundthe Day of Action. The significant response gave ourcampaign a much needed boost and proved to usthat many people do care about improving aged care.QNU representatives also used the momentum createdon the day to meet with many federal governmentmembers of parliament to share their concerns aboutaged care.Secretary Gay Hawksworth and Assistant Secretary BethMohle presented the signed postcards to targeted MPsin 2009. We were proud to hand over heavy boxes full ofpostcards as proof of very broad support for governmentaction.We maintained pressure on our MPs right up untilChristmas with many members participating in ourSend a Christmas Message to my MP email activityfrom our website. The message asked the governmentfor an early Christmas present in funding for agedcare.This year we haven’t stopped either. In February agedcare nurses headed to Canberra to lobby our federalrepresentatives for a significant injection of funds andchanges to the aged care system. Two aged care nursesfrom Queensland attended a special morning tea atParliament House as part of planned activities. Wealso took the opportunity to meet with a number ofQueensland federal MPs and Senators to discuss thecampaign.In March we launched our Ask the Treasurer to fixaged care email campaign facility where members andthe community could sign their name to an emailto Treasurer Wayne Swan and even leave their ownpersonal message. This activity was extremely wellreceived with thousands of people sending an emailmessage while the activity was live (in the lead up to theMay federal budget day). In correspondence to the QNUthe Treasurer responded to the substantial volume ofemails he had received.Our email activity was supported by our unique ‘Doyour block’ strategy which we implemented to educateand activate the wider community about our campaign.Queensland Nurses’ Union of Employees | Annual Report 2009-2010 | 21