That is a hard act to follow. I must firstly acknowledge the member for Hastings and his wonderful, empathetic and caring contributions that he always gives in this chamber. He has certainly reminded me with regard to the new parent concerns that you have when you first turn up to the hospital. It was 6½ years ago now, with my partner Donna and Orla on the way, and I remember that worry and concern that you have when you go in there. As soon as you go in there you are surrounded by professionals who on a day-to-day basis know how to look after you and know how to make sure that you feel confident that you are going to be looked after and that you are going to be okay. As hour after hour after hour goes by – we got up to 25 hours – though you are still concerned and still worried about what is going to happen, you just have that confidence that our nurses, our midwives and our doctors are there to ensure that you get the best outcome. I would like to start by thanking the nurses and midwives that looked after us through some concerning times. We got there: we got our little bundle of joy at 11:38 pm after 26 hours of that ordeal. I thank them for what I have today.
It is a pleasure to rise in favour of the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2025. From the outset I would like to thank the Minister for Health and her team for their efforts in bringing this important legislation to the house. I trust these changes will have a positive impact for all Victorians. Back in 2015, just one year into the Andrews Labor government, a significant piece of legislation was introduced, one which would transform our healthcare system. It was nation-leading change that we proudly stand by and, more importantly, improve on today. That was the Safe Patient Care (Nurse to Patient and Midwife to Patient Ratios) Bill 2015. This was the first time that an Australian state enshrined nurse- and midwife-to-patient ratios into law.
I want to take a moment to quote a few lines from the then Minister for Health, the Honourable Jill Hennessy, because they are so relevant in today’s context:
This bill is an Australian first.
It will help nurses and midwives do what they do best, it will guarantee every Victorian patient the care they need and it will protect the integrity of our highly respected nursing profession in the future.
She went on to mention that:
There is evidence … that if a nurse has more time to provide care to a patient, then the risk of that patient having an unintended complication or event – like falling or developing a pressure ulcer – is far less than if the patient was left unattended.
In essence she was highlighting the incredible work that our nurses and midwives do and how through appropriate legislative frameworks government can support the incredible contribution that they make to our state. Members may note the distinct similarity between the titles of that piece of legislation and the bill that we are debating in the house today, and that is because the Allan Labor government is building on the progress that has been made by ensuring stronger and safer ratios. We recognise there is always more to do to improve patient and carer safety and satisfaction, and it is critical that we institute better nurse- and midwife-to-patient ratios to ensure the best possible care for Victorian patients and their families. We made commitments in 2014, and we delivered them through the legislation I began my contribution with. We also made those commitments again at the 2018 election and delivered them. Now we are once again delivering on our commitments made at the 2022 election. It is already our third round of improvements to legislated minimum nursing and midwifery staffing levels in public hospitals, a record we are very proud to stand on.
Part of our promise to improving the quality of our health services in Victoria was to deliver a broad package of additional care and support for patients. Through this we will deliver extra night duty staff in high dependency units and coronary care units, an additional 457 nurses and midwives into the health system, 30 more residential aged care nurses, the recruitment of 141 midwives and the trial of a neonatal support nurse in maternity wards. These are broad-ranging changes which in part have come about thanks to the continuing and ubiquitous advocacy of our nurses and midwives, and we are proud to stand alongside them because we have their backs.
I quote Lisa Fitzpatrick AO, secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF):
… the … Government has demonstrated once again it is really listening to nurses and midwives to recover from the pandemic and improve the system for all Victorians.
This government also understands that to deliver on these commitments, we need to recruit more nurses and midwives. As the demand for services gets higher, it is important that we address the pressure that is placed on the workforce. They are making an honourable and commendable decision choosing to serve public patients in public hospitals, and it is only right that we continue to encourage them in their career aspirations. Since we have come into government we have grown our healthcare workforce by nearly 50 per cent, with a 6.7 per cent increase just last year alone. In real numbers that is an additional 40,000 nurses, midwives, doctors and allied health professionals and other hospital staff. That is 45 per cent more nurses and midwives and 78 per cent more doctors serving in our public health system and, importantly, nearly a quarter of these new positions have been in rural and regional areas.
A $270 million investment has been made for study in nursing and midwifery to be free, an incredible initiative to build the supply and capacity of our workforce. This stands alongside how at the last state election we promised a $5000 sign-on bonus to those nurses and midwives who chose to enter Victoria’s public health system, and I do go to a very close friend of mine who in her 30s decided to go back and study nursing. Unfortunately she started her course a year before she was able to actually get that sign-on bonus, but she is now looking after patients, working in our public health system, and I thank her for the work that she does as well. The 2024–25 budget increased its investment into building Victoria’s public health workforce with an additional $183 million, and there has been an over 50 per cent increase in the paramedic workforce since we came to government. Furthermore, Lisa Fitzpatrick of the ANMF also makes important notes about the fact that increasing the numerical number of staff alone is not good enough. There must be legislative action to address issues pertaining to staffing levels, rostering and workload management, and that is exactly what this bill goes through.
I want to make note of a few of the new ratios and regulations that will now be set in Victoria: one-to-one nurse-to-occupied-bed ratios in ICUs on all shifts; ICUs will be required to have a team leader and liaison nurse dedicated to them for the very first time; improved staffing ratios in resuscitation cubicles in EDs on morning shifts, down from one to six to one to four; midwife-to-patient ratios in postnatal and antenatal wards on night shift; and in-charge nurses on night shifts in standalone high-dependency units and coronary care units.
We are already seeing the benefits of this government’s record investment in our healthcare system. Victoria is ahead of every other state in its planned surgery turnover rate, and we are the only jurisdiction that has performed planned surgeries within clinically recommended timeframes for all category 1 patients, category 1 patients being those that need immediate treatment.
I was delighted to join the member for Box Hill and the member for Ashwood in welcoming the Minister for Health to the Blackburn Public Hospital. For some context, in 2021 this government converted this site from a privately run operation into a publicly run facility now operated by Eastern Health. This year alone it will deliver around 4000 additional surgical procedures and 10,000 medical consultations. It is only through decisive and reforming government agendas such as this that we have seen the waitlist decrease almost 10 per cent compared to the same time last year, and that is partly thanks to our $1.5 billion COVID catch-up plan for surgeries that were delayed. Almost 50,000 patients underwent planned surgery in the last quarter, resulting in the lowest level of Victorians waiting for planned surgery since the beginning of the pandemic. The median treatment time in emergency departments is down 8 minutes to 14 minutes, a significant improvement as a result of direct investment into this incredible healthcare workforce we have here in Victoria. I have so much more to talk about, but time is getting – an extension of time, member for Kew? No?
We know just how much of a difference these changes will make in supporting our incredible healthcare workforce to deliver safe and high-quality care for all patients in Victorian hospitals. I am proud of the work that the Allan Labor government is doing to protect and support Victoria’s public healthcare system. I want to thank all the nurses and midwives for everything they do for the people of Victoria. I commend this bill to the house and wish it a speedy passage.
