Hundreds of nurses and midwives at a Sydney private hospital are holding a strike today demanding better pay and safer staffing levels.
Staff at the Northern Beaches Hospital, run by private operator Healthscope, began walking off the job at 6am, in a 26-hour industrial action.
They are also imposing an overtime ban, but emergency care will continue as usual.
The hospital treats public patients under a contract with the NSW government.
Western Sydney nurses are also striking today at Campbelltown and Nepean hospitals.
Staff at Northern Beaches Hospital have previously voiced concerns about long wait times and alleged medical mishaps highlighted this week by the devastating death of a two-year-old boy last September.
A review released yesterday found Joe Massa should have been treated within 10 minutes at Northern Beaches Hospital, but instead was left waiting 2.5 hours just for a bed.
When he was given one, the boy not hooked up to a heart machine monitor or to an IV drip.
The toddler had hypovolemia, a condition that occurs when the body loses too much fluid.
His parents allege Northern Beaches Hospital failed their son “at every level” and he would be alive today were it not for the improper care he received.
A serious adverse event review conducted by the hospital after Joe’s death identified multiple failures. The report found there was a “delay and failure to recognise deterioration” in Joe’s health.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the situation was “every parent’s worst nightmare”, and refused to rule out further reviews into Joe’s death.
