South Coast health workers crying for state government help as system 'at breaking point'

South Coast healthcare workers Dawn Kamprad and Georg Schad say the system is at a breaking point. (ABC South East: Keira Proust)

Regional healthcare workers are pleading for the New South Wales government to mandate staff ratios, insisting the system is at a "breaking point" with no capacity for any COVID-19 outbreaks.

As the state's Central West has been plummeted into lockdown due to Greater Sydney's growing COVID-19 outbreak, other regions — including the south-east of the state — fear their healthcare systems will not cope if the virus spreads southward.

New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association member Georg Schad says working as a registered nurse on the South Coast is currently "harrowing".

"If COVID actually came to this hospital, it would decimate this health district."

To combat this mounting pressure, workers are now renewing calls to the state government for mandated staff ratios.

Mr Schad said staff in the district's medical floor had staff-patient ratios varying from 1:6 and 1:8.

"[This is] compared to other states with mandated ratios of a strict 1:4 ratio," he said.

Nurses on the NSW South Coast say the local health system is at a breaking point. (ABC South East: Keira Proust)

Long-term battle

It's a battle the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association have been fighting with the state government for more than 10 years, with little movement.

The association's members renewed their calls at a protest outside Bega's South East Regional Hospital on Wednesday, after more than 220 shifts were left unfilled at the hospital during the past four weeks.

Local delegate Diane Lang says the conditions are not safe.

"Many of us have been doing doubles — two or three shifts of 19 hours."

"It cannot be safe, but it's the only way to keep the hospital doors open."

Healthcare workers protest against the more than 220 unfilled vacant shifts at their local hospital. (ABC South East: Keira Proust)

In a statement, NSW Health said its system worked on a far more flexible ratio, which enabled the hospital to increase staffing where needed.

"Whilst allowing for the professional judgement of nurses and managers to adjust staffing levels to reflect the changing care needs of patients."

The department said the current system worked better than the association's "rigid ratio framework", and insisted the state government IS investing an additional 5,000 nurses and midwives over a four year period.