Who cares about the carers? NSW Nurses assaulted from all directions

We really wonder whether the O’Farrell Government have ever considered the hazardous nature of nursing? (Nurses jeer at NSW health minister)

Not only do they face inevitable dangers in their work, they are then routinely assaulted if they are unfortunate enough to get injured at work .

Nurses must be protected from danger

By Brett Holmes, General Secretary

While nursing is an enormously rewarding and fulfilling career, the nature of the job can leave us vulnerable to injury and the environments in which we practice can be inherently dangerous.

Over the past few months The Lamp has published numerous interviews with nurses who have been injured at work.

We have talked with nurses who have suffered musculo-skeletal injuries and psychological injuries and who have been subjected to many forms of anxiety and stress as a consequence: fear about their health, uncertainty about their futures, with strains on their relationships and the distress of financial hardship.

It is important that we hear these stories. Their plight has been brought into focus by the heartless behaviour of the state government and its ruthless attack on the workers’ compensation scheme.

If the government was left uncontested all we would hear about would be budgets and deficits, about the never ending burden on insurers and the corporate sector, and the impending doom for New South Wales if nothing is done.

Reducing the issue to a debate about money effectively hides from view some inconvenient truths about the tragic consequences for real people when they are hurt at work.

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