“I was talking to the man, he said we’re gonna make a deal
I was fooled into thinking the paper in my pocket was real
I said ‘No, no, you’ve been taken again
No, no, you’re losing all your friends
No, no, it’s just a matter of sense
It’s just a matter of sense’ ”
~ ‘Used and Abused’, by Rob Hirst and Jim Moginie
from the self titled album by Midnight Oil, 1978
Last week I wrote about some of the amusing characters I’ve encountered and experiences I've had in nursing. It was fun to reminisce, even without going into the reasons why I love my job and what I do. But today, nursing has me bummed.
It all started on a sunny Saturday morning. I trundled out the front door in search of the morning paper delivery, wondering once again how on Earth the two sections of the paper managed to find their way to such disparate places of the yard. In an act that has become largely ceremonial due to my increasing lack of sit-down-and-read-the-weekend-paper time, I unwrapped them from their weather-proof plastic. A headline caught my eye. It was an article* with the unwelcome news (to me anyway) that the Liberal State Government here in Victoria has decided that the best way to enter into the pay and conditions negotiations with the state's nurses is to do so with an axe behind its metaphorical back, ready to plunge square into the knees of nurses the first chance it gets.
While this kind of behaviour is not at all unexpected by the Liberal Party, it is also true that previous Labor State Governments are guilty of their own dirty pool when it comes to these kind of negotiations. There's a degree of political expediency at work, with budgets being squeezed everywhere we look, from governments to businesses large and small. That being said, the degree of contempt here is staggering. The duplicity of the government’s argument is pathetic. If it were really so concerned about the workload of nurses, it could easily employ the planned ‘health assistants’ to bolster the current workforce, rather than use them to replace nurses.
Our brothers and sisters in the teaching fraternity have been equally screwed over, with Ted Baillieu's Libs backing away from their own pre-election promise to make Victorian teachers the best paid in the country like it was an angry Ebola monkey.** One also wonders if the 4.7 percent yearly increase the Police Union was successful in securing their members last month was tied up in political issues surrounding the Office of Police Integrity's recent revelations. It appears that one of state Nationals leader, Deputy Premier and Police Minister Peter Ryan's senior advisors was instrumental in the white-anting and eventual removal of Simon Overland as Police Commissioner in June this year.*** Mr Ryan has since saved his political hide by adopting the ‘Sergeant Schultz defense’ with echoes of “I know nothing!” ringing out from parliament in the wake of the damning disclosures.
Wednesday's news**** really turned my bad feeling into stomach-churning bitterness. It turns out that the Liberals are behind a series of memos that instruct hospital managers how to lock nurses out of their own workplaces and to employ strike-breaking workers in the event of industrial action. Are nurses so evil that they have earned such base treatment? So wicked that preemptive aggression is deemed an appropriate course of action before even the first sod of negotiation is turned? The State Government's attitude towards hard working nurses who form the bulk of the human face of the health care industry has been callous and despicable.
It is my strongly held opinion that nursing, like teaching, is drastically under-appreciated by many. Politics being what it is, there are some issues that just don't have the gut-punch that other issues enjoy. Either they lack the appropriate head-turning glamour that spruces up a political promise, or there are simply no votes to be found in them. It takes a strong political will to base a platform on these types of issues and it seems that very few of our current pollies have the intestinal fortitude to get behind issues like increasing nurses’ pay and conditions to something vaguely resembling generosity. They appear far too busy making sure they are availing themselves of the next flattering photo opportunity or bitterly slagging off at their rivals in the popular media, one eye always fixed on the next reelection campaign.
The majority of those who require nursing services are the weak and vulnerable, cruelled by illness or the frailty of age and disability. A large portion of a nurse's role is to advocate for those who are unable to advocate for themselves. As such, those we service (and their families, by association) are rarely in a position to argue our case for us. It's also a sad and long held fact women do not enjoy the higher wages that men in similarly responsible positions do, and as nursing has traditionally been a female dominated industry, it has historically been lower-paying than it deserves to be. All these factors demand that those making decisions about nurses’ recompense stand up and act with some decency. In this respect, Premier Baillieu and Health Minister David Davis have shown all the moral high-standing of an alley cat on heat. Where we would wish for leadership from those in power, we are met with limp-wristed cowardice and cold-hearted arrogance.
Over the last fourteen years I've cared for the infirm. I've met people's basic human needs. I've treated horrible illnesses. I’ve helped countless people with their own personal hygiene. I’ve dispensed incalculable amounts of medicines. I've dressed infected and malodourous wounds. I've protected the dignity of those who've found themselves without it. I've introduced myself repeatedly to poor demented souls who don't remember my name no matter how many times I've cared for them. I've brought comfort to those in the final hours of their lives. I've cleaned their bodies after their deaths in the last act of kindness I can afford them, and consoled those left behind. I've been abused when people lash out in frustration at the time of their weakness, and showed them as much patience and grace and care as I can muster. I’ve worked through numerous family birthdays, Christmases, Easters and New Year’s Days. I've been ignored and unappreciated by those whose wellbeing is in my hands. I've worked at one of those rare professions that can have an actual body count at the end of a bad day at the office. And I've loved it all dearly.
But... but...
I'm disillusioned. I have little desire to continue to work for those that would treat me and my nursing brethren with disdain. I’m sick to death of feeling undervalued, as if it wasn't bad enough that nurses are constantly asked to do more with resources that are not on par with the importance of the work. The current State Government clearly hold what I do in such low standing that they feel it right and good and fair to behave the way they have been. Next time you have a long wait at an emergency department, or your surgery gets delayed, or the nurse on the ward doesn’t answer the buzzer quickly, or the nurse visiting you at home is running late, I want you to remember the hundreds of highly skilled, highly qualified, caring nurses out there who are no longer nursing because their goodwill has been squandered one too many times. I know there is only so much of this I think I can take before that disillusionment becomes more than I can bear.
* The article in question can be found at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/revealed-secret-plan-to-cut-nurse-numbers-20111105-1n1f9.html
** Credit where credit is due: “angry Ebola monkey” is a glorious phrase I have commandeered from the cinefile/reviewer Massawyrm, from AintItCool.com.
*** More information on this can be found at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/lied-leaked-and-abused-power-explosive-opi-report-claims-scalps-20111027-1mkyt.html
**** The article can be found at: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/nurses-lockout-plans-exposed-20111108-1n5mh.html
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