Mental health workers walk off the job

The Health and Community Services Union (HACSU) has been negotiating a new enterprise agreement for eight months, with Tuesday’s stop-work action for better wages and conditions for staff.

GV Health Wanyarra unit area organiser Martin O’Nea said there was a huge pay discrepancy between allied health professionals and nurses in the mental health sector.

He said this was making things difficult to recruit staff to places like Shepparton, but also to hold on to them.

He said union members were calling his office because gaps in the services meant they could not do their role as they wanted to.

The stop-work action was to advance the union’s claims for better pay parity and equal pay for all the mental health workers.

“We believe all members of the team need to be in place, and all members of the team are equally valued,” Mr O’Nea said.

“It’s equal pay for equal people.”

HACSU branch two secretary Paul Healey said the union also wanted better ratios of nurses to beds in mental health services.

“If you have the right staffing profiles, you can meet the demands in a timely manner,” he said.

Mr Healey said the number of people experiencing mental health issues was on the rise, and had “gone through the roof” since COVID-19 times. He said 50 per cent of people aged under 25 were either diagnosed with, or had symptoms of, anxiety or depression.

He said the government needed to spend more money on mental health.

Mental health nurse Linda Bryant was one of those to take part in the industrial action.

She has been a mental health nurse for about 40 years — with the past 14 or 15 at Goulburn Valley Health.

“So many positions aren’t filled,” she said.

“We can’t attract anyone to the area.

“We need to attract good people and keep them.”

She said better pay could attract more people to work in mental health.

Ms Bryant said morale was “very low” among staff, with those staff members who were there working overtime and extra shifts to cover gaps.

“It does wear people down,” she said.

“You work 14 hours and then you come back the next day and work another 14 hours.”

She said a lot of agency staff were also needed to fill roles, while others would just come for short terms, only lasting a few months.

Ms Bryant also said there were only 15 mental health beds in the unit for an area that stretches from Cobram to Beveridge and out to Euroa.

Shepparton had been promised more beds, but that has been put on pause for several years, she said.

In contrast, Bendigo has 233 mental health beds available, as well as other supports.

Mental health administration assistant Anita Young was another taking part in the stop-work action.

She has spent 10 years working in mental health.

From her side of things, she said she often felt disheartened because people would call looking for mental health help and she was unable to get help for them because there were not enough staff to provide the service.

“Not having enough staff at ground level impacts everyone at ground level,” Ms Young said.

Ms Young said there was an administration staffing shortage on the wards as well, with problems attracting staff.

Jacq Kiss, who is part of the lived experience workforce in the mental health unit at Goulburn Valley Health, was also among those taking part in the stop-work action.

Part of the role of lived experience staff is sitting on governance committees.

“I have a degree. I’m studying my Masters and I’m a registered nurse too,” they said.

They also said there were difficulties getting staff, with huge pay discrepancies of up to $10 an hour between those lived experience workers outside the public health sector, and those in it.