More than 130 new nurses will be hired in Canberra to help significantly expand the range of wards with mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.
A minimum of one nurse to four patients will soon be required on wards including maternity, the neonatal intensive care unit, cancer services, intensive care, emergency departments and palliative care.
Funding for 137 new nurses and midwives has been set aside in the territory budget with $86 million allocated.
Nurse-to-patient ratios have already been mandated in some wards, including general medical and general surgical.
But health authorities have struggled to meet these ratios across all shifts. The latest data from March showed Canberra Hospital only met the requirement across 77 per cent of shifts.
North Canberra Hospital fared better meeting the requirements for 95 per cent of shifts.
The announcement of the new nurses comes after Labor promised to hire 800 extra health workers if it wins the ACT election in October.
The ACT budget for 2024-25 is set to be handed down in two weeks.
Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said nurse-to-patient ratios ensured a greater skills mix of nurses across shifts, which Canberra Health Services has struggled with over recent years.
"Implementing ratios guarantees there will be more staff on the ward to provide care and ensures an increased skill mix on each shift," she said.
"Staff feel safer with more team members on the ward and importantly, are able to spend more time focusing on individual patients."
Ms Stephen-Smith said the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation had been advocating for ratios and she would continue to work the union and other stakeholders to ensure the ratios were implemented effectively.
"Midwives and nurses have advocated for many years to count the baby in ratios to ensure they can provide safe care to women and babies," she said.
"We have listened to the voices of these midwives and nurses and will be implementing some of the most progressive changes to safer workloads in the country."
The second stage of ratios will be rolled out across both of Canberra's public hospitals and Clare Holland House.
It will be bigger than the first stage of ratios, which was implemented in 2022 and cost $50 million.
The government said the ACT would be the second jurisdiction in Australia to implement ratios that count the baby in the ratio for maternity services.
Labor went to the last election pledging an extra 400 health workers but there have actually been 580 extra staff hired as the demand for care is continuing to outpace the number of staff.
Despite the increase in health workers over recent years, the health system has continued to face workforce shortages.
Almost one-in-five nurses left during the 2021-22 year.
Extra workers will also be needed in the newly expanded Canberra Hospital, which is set to open in August.
"We're opening the critical services building at the Canberra Hospital, expanding services at our nurse-led walk-in centres and building more health centres," Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
"As we make these investments, we're working to ensure we have a health workforce that is highly skilled and supported so they can continue to deliver great care to our community."
The ACT budget will be released on June 25.
