STRETCHED nurses are demanding answers after claims departments at John Hunter Hospital are being left with a load of shift vacancies despite being told they are "fully staffed".
Members of the nurses union have said in the major hospital's theatre and recovery services, there's currently a seven-day period where 40 rostered shifts need covering.
"These aren't sick calls, these are shifts not staffed," secretary of the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA) for John Hunter Hospital Rachel Hughes said.
"How are those shifts not filled, how do you have 40 vacancies in a week?
"That's a lot of vacancies for a department that's apparently fully staffed, that's crazy."
Se said it put pressure on staff to do overtime to keep everything running.
"Ideally, services should be reduced if they're that short of staff," she said.
Ms Hughes said NSWNMA members had been reporting shift vacancies regularly across multiple departments, like emergency and intensive care.
"There's constantly vacancies, and these are only the ones we know about," she said.
Ms Hughes said nurses and midwives agree to do overtime, or work extra hours, to support each other.
"People say yes because they don't want to let their colleagues down, because we know if you're short staffed, it's s***," she said.
"We're concerned about our patients, that's why we don't want to do overtime, but we're also concerned enough about our patients that we do it, so there is somebody there."
Ms Hughes said she requested details ahead of a Reasonable Workloads Committee meeting next week about which areas of the hospital were short on staff and by how much, and whether vacant positions were temporary or permanent.
A Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD) spokesperson moved to reassure the community John Hunter Hospital is "appropriately staffed and resourced to provide safe, high quality and compassionate care to patients".
"When vacancies do arise, we fill positions using current, casual or agency staff," the spokesperson said.
HNELHD confirmed there had been no impact to patient care in hospital surgical services, which the spokesperson said were staffed to the NSWNMA award, and services had not been cut back.
"Attracting and retaining health workforce in rural and regional areas is a challenge across Australia. However, we continue to respond with targeted, strategic workforce planning," they said.
"We thank our highly skilled and dedicated nurses who provide safe, high-quality care every day."
Hospital staff are still being furloughed across the state amid COVID-19.
It was revealed last week that 138.2 full-time equivalent temporary nursing jobs - announced as part of the previious government's COVID-19 emergency response - would no longer be funded in the HNELHD from June 2024.
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