Frontline health staff who contract COVID-19 will now be able to access special leave before having to dip into their personal leave after the ACT government today changed its public service employee entitlements.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation yesterday raised concerns that staff were being asked to use their personal leave before they were able to access COVID leave if they contracted the virus.
Today, the ACT government changed its policy, allowing ill workers to access up to seven days of COVID-19 leave before using personal leave if they are still unwell.
Katrina, a nurse from the Canberra Hospital who agreed to speak to the ABC on condition of anonymity, is currently in isolation after contracting COVID-19.
She said the old policy felt "extremely unfair".
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ACT branch secretary Matthew Daniel agreed, adding that making healthcare workers use personal leave rather than COVID leave would leave a predominantly female workforce worse off.
"Nurses and midwives have given so much and done everything that's been asked of them over two years," he said.
"To ask them to jump through some sort of administrative hoop to get COVID leave just does not recognise the environment in which we've been working.
"Nurses and midwives are predominantly the carers at home, and so requiring them to take sick leave rather than giving them access to COVID leave falls disproportionately on women."
Canberra Liberals health spokeswoman Giulia Jones welcomed the change in policy but said the situation demonstrated the capital's healthcare system still had a "poor workplace culture".
"Our nurses have put up with a lot in this pandemic. They went into the pandemic exhausted and overworked and now the government is failing them when they're needed the most," she said.
"COVID is an illness that will take people about a week to get through and that will eat well into their sick leave for the next 12-months. What if they get it twice?
Staff in PPE not given adequate breaks
Robert, another nurse who spoke anonymously to the ABC, also returned a positive COVID result.
He said he and his colleagues, who often worked double shifts to make sure wards were staffed, felt the support they had received from CHS had been superficial.
"I have worked to the bone at this hospital, but that's OK because I get called a health care hero on posters — I'm a nurse, aren't I? I just put up with this because that's what nurses do, right?," he said.
Mr Daniel said the union had received reports of staff working for extended periods in PPE without appropriate breaks — an issue which he raised in a meeting with Canberra Health Services yesterday.
"I asked whether some attention could be brought to that problem, and that attention may be by a memo to all managers of staff wearing PPE for long periods of time," Mr Daniel said.
"I heard that CHS is 'too busy' to do that communique."
In a statement, a Canberra Health Services spokesperson said an all-staff memo was sent today to remind workers they needed to take regular breaks.
"Conversations take place every day across the organisation to remind managers to ensure working arrangements are safe, and to remind team members to look out for each other," the spokesperson said.
"In line with the relevant enterprise agreement, CHS staff are strongly encouraged to take their allocated breaks during their shift.
"Staggered break times are generally arranged in consultation with team leaders and team members at the start of each shift.
"If a health care worker is concerned that they will be unable to take a break, they should escalate their concerns to their team leader immediately so that arrangements can be made to relieve them as soon as possible."
In a statement, Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety Minister Mick Gentleman said the onset of the Omicron variant and the sheer number of the workers affected "gave cause" to expand the government's COVID leave policy.
"The decision to make this change occurred earlier this week and has come about as a result of close consultation with all unions," he said.
"As Minister, I will continue working with the union movement to keep workers safe."
