Canberra Health Services are not meeting mandated nurse-to-patient ratios for more than a quarter of shifts.
But authorities are hopeful a range of initiatives aimed at training and helping new nurses will help to fill the shortfalls.
There has been a shortage of nurses across the country and this is being especially felt in Canberra.
The ACT government has mandated nurse-to-patient ratios with a minimum of one nurse to four patients across some wards in the territory's public hospitals but there are struggles to meet these across all shifts.
'A lot of challenges'
The rollout of the ratios began at the start of 2022. Ratios will eventually be rolled out across all wards in the territory's public hospitals but are being rolled out in a staged approach. Only the first stage has occurred.
Ratios have been implemented in the general medical, general surgical, acute aged care and adult mental health inpatient wards.
The second phase of the rollout is being determined through enterprise bargaining which is ongoing.
But given the struggles to meet the already existing ratios in every shift extending the wards where ratios are mandated may prove to be difficult.
Data from ACT Health shows only 71 per cent of shifts were compliant with these ratios in November. The compliance level has not been above 75 per cent in the past six months.
North Canberra Hospital has better numbers. There was 91 per cent compliance in November and the number has been above 86 per cent over the past six months.
Canberra Health Services executive director of nursing Kellie Lang said there were challenges in reaching full compliance. She said one of the biggest barriers to achieving the mandated ratios was workforce shortages but they were doing everything they could to ensure staff and patient safety.
"We had a period of time where it was an amnesty to help us get on top of recruitment and those sorts of things and so that's really helped but we can see that we're not totally where we want to be," Ms Lang said.
"We know there's a lot of challenges in that space to be able to get to that actual number but we're working on a day-to-day basis around making sure that our patients are safe and our nursing staff are safe.
"We've had some really good months and then we've also had some bad ones and we know we've got a lot of work to do in that space."
Ms Lang said officials were working on a series of long term strategies to help build and develop the workforce and meet those ratios.
'Early career nurses grow'
One of the programs Canberra Health Services has been working on is a novice nurse program. The six-month program is to support novice nurses to become trained in an acute nurse setting.
There have been 107 nurses employed through the program and this had contributed to helping with ratios, clinical nurse educator Suvechha Ghimire said.
"Our main aim is to provide early career nurses with a very structured learning environment. So my team of seniors, we provide direct hands-on support as well and then we provide them some professional development through our study days," she said.
"It has been great to see these early career nurses grow and develop that confidence from novice to confident nurses and then work in different areas of their interest."
Another program that has been developed is one to employ undergraduate student nurses and midwives across the organisation, Ms Lang said.
"They're either in their second year or moving forward, so they come in and provide assistance, they work under the supervision of the registered nurse or registered midwife," she said.
"It provides us not only with assistance but it also provides them some sort of additional clinical time and working and learning opportunities."
Canberra Health Services is also hopeful a new government initiative to provide nurse and midwife students at the territory's universities with cost of living payments will help to boost the ranks.
Under the program, nursing, midwifery and allied health students in Canberra will receive up to $3000 a year over a three-year period to help with cost-of-living pressures. Students will also be paid when they are on work placements in the territory's hospitals.
