Good afternoon and welcome to our blog for May 17, 2024.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After a chilly start to the day, the sun has come out and Bendigo is expected to reach a top of 17 degrees.
In the news this morning, hospital beds will be closed and surgeries cancelled as Victorian nurses and midwives step up industrial action over stalled enterprise agreement talks.
Thousands of Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation members are taking part in protected action from 7am on Friday as they fight for better pay and conditions.
Bendigo Health is among the sites being affected.
One in four beds that become free will not become available to new patients and one on four elective surgeries will not go ahead, according to a union notice sent to members.
Outpatient nurses and midwives may stop one in four non-urgent referrals or review appointments.
The union claims patients will not be harmed as two beds in each ward will be kept free for emergencies and bans don't apply to patients who could significantly deteriorate.
Several specialties are exempt including nurses and midwives working in paediatrics, maternity, intensive care, coronary care, oncology and palliative care.
In other news today, there have been more reports of vandalism in Bendigo with the Soldiers Memorial Institute, Bendigo Boer War Memorial statue at Sidney Myer Place, the Queen Victoria statue and Sir John Quick bust at the Queen Victoria gardens all targeted.
