Nursing demarcation threat

Press, 30 January 1982, Page 1

Nursing demarcation threat

Industrial action by Sunnyside Hospital’s psychiatric nurses could escalate if nurses at Christchurch’s general hospitals follow earlier instructions to treat emergency psychiatric patients. About 400 psychiatric nurses, who are members of the Public Service Association, stopped all but their custodial duties from midnight on Thursday to bring pressure to bear on the North Canterbury Hospital Board for negotiations to increase staff levels.

All wards are being locked from 4.30 p.m. each day (instead of 8 p.m.) until 7 a.m. and no informal patients will be admitted to Sunnyside or Ward C at Princess Margaret Hospital. Only patients who are committed, remanded by the courts, or transferred from other psychiatric hospitals or from prison would be admitted, said the P.S.A. representative at Sunnyside, Mr C. A. Bell.

. The board’s medical super-intendent-in-chief (Dr R. A. Fairgray) has told general hospitals that psychiatric

patients should be cared for if they could not be informally (voluntarily) admitted at Sunnyside. “The people most disadvantaged by this action are those ill people — schizophrenics and those suffering from depression — whose condition deteriorates and who would normally be admitted informally but who are not committable,’’ said Dr Fairgray.

“Of the 1300 or so admissions at Sunnyside last year, about 1000 of them, were informal. If this action goes on for some time it will cause pressure on other hospitals and quite serious complications for outpatients,” he said.

Dr Fairgray said that the instruction to general nurses was for emergency cases only. He hoped the P.S.A, would not object to general nurses doing psychiatric work in such cases.

.Mr Bell said yesterday that the psychiatric nurses would “very strongly object” to general nurses doing psychiatric work. “If he (Dr Fairgray) is

taking that attitude, he should think very carefully before he does allow that because it could escalate the dispute very, very easily,” said Mr Bell.

“We would go straight to other sympathetic groups to stand by us if that happened," he said. Informal patients could still be committed if they could not be satisfactorily treated by their general practitioner, he said.

Under Section 19 of the Mental Health Act, patients who want to be voluntarily admitted can be committed for 21 days before they have to come before a District Court judge who will decide whether they are legally certifiable, said Mr Bell.

“The only problem would be if this action dragged on longer than 21 days. Someone who was admitted under Section 19 and not judged certifiable would have to be discharged,” he said.

“If people are in urgent need of hospital treatment they can be admitted under that section. It is going to cost the hospital board

money for drafting the papers, that’s all.” The P.S.A.’s Canterbury regional secretary (Mr J. M. McKenzie) said that he believed that psychiatric patients in general hospitals would be treated only by the psychology staff. Any intensification of the dispute should general nurses be doing psychiatric work would not be considered until the meeting on Monday, said Mr McKenzie.

The 662 patients inside Sunnyside by midnight on Thursday were not unduly inconvenienced by the industrial action, said the hospital’s medical superintendent (Dr J. A. Begg). Patients and visitors could move in and out of locked wards by asking the nurses. “The patients have their own hobbies and interests, crafts, badminton and recreational activities in the main hall and films, the musical groups have been practising, and there are stereos and television. It's all laid on, really,” said Dr Begg. “I’m sure people can adapt

to this for a short timeanyway," he said. “I think that there is some justification for a claim for more staffing but what is regrettable is the manner of going about it.” Mr Bell said that a meeting would be held on Monday afternoon between members of the Hospital Board, himself; the P.S.A. president (Mr D. H. Thorpe), a representative for all the hospital boards, Audrey Muir, and representatives from nurses at Templeton and Sunnyside hospitals. “We are going to discuss the Inter-Hospital Board Liaison Committee’s report on staffing and we want to get a commitment from the hospital board that it will recognise the report and negotiate. for staff on that basis,” he said. “The P.S.A. is looking at implementing the report by 1985 or 1986 because in some areas it is may be necessary to train some staff. But at Sunnyside there is a waiting list of staff wanting to work here.”

Mr Bel) said. that the nurses’ action was specifically aimed at inconveniencing, the hospital board, not the patients. “As. far as I’m aware all the patients are behind our actions. They have been told what was going to happen and why. “We have written support from the psychologists and sociologists and all the other staff are allowing the dispute to go as well as possible,” he said. Mr Bell said the nurses’ action would continue indefinitely as part of a national set of rolling industrial actions at psychiatric hospitals. He said that the nurses had only narrowly voted against withdrawing all their services because-for years the hospital board, had been ignoring pleas for more staff. An inter-hospital board and P.S.A. working party had assessed that Sunnyside needed 34 more nurses late in 1979. Mr Bell said that all hospital boards, were’ being visited by the P.S.A. to discuss staff increases and if no satisfactory progress was made, industrial action could be intensified from early February